


Consciousness

by KLO



Series: Causality [2]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Bucky Barnes Feels, Darcy Lewis & Steve Rogers Friendship, Darcy Lewis is Tony Stark's Daughter, Darcy Lewis-centric, F/M, Marvel 616/MCU Crossover, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-22
Updated: 2017-12-07
Packaged: 2018-07-26 03:18:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 29,449
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7558102
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KLO/pseuds/KLO
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Back in the 21st Century, Darcy Lewis tries to understand who she is and where she belongs. </p><p>With Jane and Erik occupied, Bucky dead and Peggy suffering from Alzheimer's, Darcy understands how truly alone she and Steve are after a 70 year time jump to the future. The two build a bond and try to come to terms with Darcy's involvement in his past while both overcoming the loss of their companions.</p><p>Merging Thor 2, Captain America 2 and a little bit of Iron Man 3 together.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here we go!

Darcy stood at the entrance to the Captain America exhibit in the Smithsonian Museum, breathing steadily before stepping through. She was about to revisit a load of memories that were quite _’long ago’_ , not for her mentally or physically but rather according to time. She already knew the fate of many of her friends – most were dead, which Darcy found she preferred because it made reconnecting easier and she was about done with recounting her tale of Time Travel. After speaking with Jane on the phone, getting grilled by Nick Fury and a couple of Shield Head-honchos and finally the Avengers – she was sick of it. 

 

It had been nearly a week since she found her way back home. Her first night back she slept poorly, each time her eyes became droopy she felt as if her body was tearing itself in half travelling through time again. It took a couple of nights to beat the insomnia before she realized that she probably _wasn’t_ going to time travel on her own without the assistance of the Tessarect. Once Thor and Loki left earth with the Cube she relaxed a bit, as Thor told her since she had already manipulated the power of the cube twice, each time using it would become easier to synchronize with it again. Needless to say she wished him a goodbye and good luck before he wielded the item and watched him leave from inside the security of the Shield building.

 

She tried to get back to work immediately, but Jane was still skipping around the world and Erik was seriously compromised. She was worried about him since Loki’s mind control, and he did not seem to be handling it well. He scooted off to Denmark before anyone could stop him, and her new phone was getting blasted with nonsensical texts about star patterns, black hole theories and molecular transference. She was informed that he was not even close to stable yet and recommended to avoid contact with him until his Behaviour improved. 

 

So here she was, wasting time in the Smithsonian hoping that there was nothing about her in the exhibits. She had requested in her letter to Howard that there would only be an occasional mention of a “R.M. Lewis”, with no elaboration on her person. She knew that her trusty camera had been left behind full of pictures of her travelling to the Alps, and some awfully personal photographs left in her truck that she hoped had made it to a safe place. She assumed that she wouldn’t be successful in her attempt to make it back to the 21st century so her packing was not done with much care. The only pictures she had kept on her person was a shot of Howard and Dr. Erskine wearing party hats at her birthday (the first shot on the camera so it was a little washed out) and the shot of Bucky kissing her cheek. Thankfully Steve managed to recover his photo of the three of them from his saved personal effects in the Shield storage warehouse, so she happy that photo wasn’t lost.

 

She entered the exhibit and took her time, slowly drifting around the memorabilia, watching the grainy videos of Steve’s adventures in Europe with the Howling Commandos. She read in great detail about Peggy, knowing that no amount of words would be able to capture the woman in great detail, never mind a 500 word blurb. Even now, though her mind was not quite as sharp as it used to be – Peggy was a charming woman. Steve had brought her to see the woman, and the two had a touching reunion in the latter’s hospital room. When she was lucid, Peggy was still quick witted and hilarious. But it only took her a few minutes to realized that Peggy was starting to suffer from Alzheimer’s or something similar, because just as suddenly as the two were reminiscing about Dr. Erskine or Howard, Peggy would re-realize that Darcy and Steve both alive, starting their conversations over. She was over 90 at this point, so Darcy wasn’t entirely surprised, but she knew that it was harder on Steve so she cut the visit short.

 

She smiled at most of the photos, knowing the full back story of a few of them and laughing at some of them. She noticed that quite a few photos were ones that she managed to take, and many had the signature ‘R.M. Lewis’ in the bottom right corner in writing that looked suspiciously like Howard’s writing. She shook her head laughing in disbelief at his brazen manipulation of her request. He found a way to insert her into the past without drawing attention to it so she had to appreciate his dedication. 

 

She finally wandered over to the large glass mural on James Buchanan Barnes and simply stared at his image, appreciating how he was captured in the shot. Hair was free and slightly shaggy, had a confident grin on his face and was looking over in the distance highlighting the angles of his strong jaw and chiseled features. She was still sore from his death, but she realized how blessed she was that she had managed to even share the same space as the man. He truly was a special person, she finally understood why Steve was so wounded by the loss of his friend.

 

Healing would take some time, she was a notorious flirty girl before her ‘trip’ as she was going to start referring to her bout in the past as. Her relationship with Bucky had changed her, and even though it had ended in heartbreak she felt as if she had truly grown as a person from meeting him. She knew better than ever that life was short and you should always tell the people you appreciate that they were important to them. She still had not spoken to Tony since her return, their contact was minimal and brief after her parentage was released, and it would be hard on her. Every time she caught a glimpse of Tony she always saw Howard first, then Anthony Stark. If she couldn’t disassociate him from his father, she probably should take some time before seeking him out.

 

On her way out of the Smithsonian she caught one sneaky picture that Howard had saved that had her in it. That bastard. It was during the celebration before Steve Rogers and the Howling Commandos departed for their attack on the Hydra bases. The night that Bucky and Darcy spent the night together. Her hand went up to the photo and touched the plaque on the frame.

 

 _Howling Commandos Celebrate before Departure_.

 

The shot was packed with people, but if you knew what you were looking for like Darcy was, you would have seen a grinning Bucky looking into a young woman’s face, her hair falling into her profile so only a glimpse of a large smile was seen. Darcy’s back was to the Camera, the two of them had been in the middle of a spin with Bucky’s one arm around her waist, and their connected hands up in the air. The picture painted a wonderful impression of the mood that the room was in. This was when they were all invincible, before the hostility increased and Bucky had fallen off the train. 

 

She took a quick shot of the photo with her new iPhone, hoping to find the negative somewhere in the Shield warehouse. She was scheduled to pilfer it at the end of the week, Howard was apparently a hoarder of things and Maria Hill informed her that there may be items under Howard’s name that may have belonged to her. Pepper Potts had also called Darcy a couple days ago mentioning that there were a couple of items that had her name on them in the Stark family storage unit. Pepper had admitted to being confused, claiming that the objects were dated – but the names on them were her full name: Darcy Rosemary Lewis and the date of her birth on them so clearly, they were always meant for her.

 

Darcy was certainly curious about the objects, hoping that Howard had simply saved all her personal effects she had accumulated in the past but was still scared to visit any Stark owned without backup. She didn’t want to search through what was technically both her grandfather and old friend’s storage facility for 70 year old items. Once she was done deflecting from her current problems she would be more than willing to look through the items but currently she was still trying to remember how she liked her coffee and getting over the new dislike of Doritos. Everything was entirely too salty or sweet for her now, she was frustrated that her taste preferences had been changed from living in the Past.

 

She chucked a five dollar bill in the donation box on the way out of the museum and started to wander around the park, aimlessly walking to nowhere in particular as she tried to occupy her free time. She didn’t even need to go to school anymore, due to her manipulation of the Tessarect and development on the Gauntlet she had been given an honorary degree in Physics, paid for by the Janet Pym foundation of a sister school of hers. She wasn’t complaining. She missed (technically) 2 days of final exams and walked out with 2 degrees, Political Science and Physics. Fury said he had a hand in her Poli Sci degree being handed out since she managed to live through one of the most difficult times of American History in better condition than people would have guessed.

 

Again, not going to complain. But now since she didn’t have remedial exams to do, she was more bored than she had ever been. Steve and Natasha were doing some recovery PR from the attack on New York, volunteering their time to fix up the dirtier blocks and assisting shop owners with damage. Coulson wasn’t answering his phone and no one would tell her where he was, so she couldn’t even harass him and other than that there wasn’t really anyone she could hang out with. 

 

Her friends list was never referred by her as “small”, but rather “intimate”. Before her Trip she was a charismatic young lady, capable of talking to anyone. New, old, felons, babies – whoever, but since she had returned she found herself walking in a haze, simply maintaining a routine. She avoided new places, and while she used to sit anywhere she wanted with or without company, she found herself ordering delivery and eating alone in her tiny suite at the Washington Shield base. Most of her time was her penning down all that she could remember from her Trip for Nick Fury so that she hopefully wouldn’t have to sit through another one of Shield’s ‘interviews’.

 

Walking down the path she recounted her 6 hour long interview with Fury when she had settled herself in a bit. Man they really wanted to know every little detail that she could remember. They were at first excited (she assumed, since most of the people she was speaking to where disembodied voices and a unexpressive black man with one eye) that they now had someone who had worked on the Project Rebirth Super Soldier Serum on their side, but were defeated when they released her actual limited involvement. She didn’t take much time letting them down, informing the group that Dr. Erskine had managed to create most of the serum on his own, she just knew about the power input and best way to inject it into the subjects. She tried halfheartedly to let them know that at least when the Serum was duplicated they could start making Super people almost immediately. 

 

It didn’t really help. Something for which she was glad for. Having a freaky amount of Super Soldiers really didn’t seem like a good idea for the world. And honestly, she thought, there weren’t really any other people like Steve out there. Many people given the opportunity for super powers probably would use it for less than ideal purposes.

 

She looked at her watch and then up at the sky. She had exactly 20 minutes before her guarded car would come pick her up. She plopped down on the grass nearby, and leaned against a tree to watch the traffic move by her. There were many things that she could appreciate about her time, but she was constantly finding musing over the major differences she noticed from new America to old. First was the air and smog. Having been raised with it all her life she never realized there was a certain taste to her air, and the amount of cars on the road had all of a sudden become noticeable. People were less pleasant on the streets, skeptical and wary of all other people on the streets, avoiding eye contact and never waving a passing hello.

 

She was glad to be back, no doubt about that. There were some luxuries that she wouldn’t have been able to live without for very much longer, but there were the select few quirks about the 40s that would be missed. Someone sank to the ground in front of the tree next to hers and she glanced over without purpose. She saw a fairly attractive black man catching his breath from a rather aggressive run, judging by his sweat marks on his sweater, and she pulled a spare water bottle out of her messenger bag and held it up to him, getting his attention. He grabbed it from her and gave an appreciative “thanks” to her before drinking nearly half the bottle in a single gulp, making the bottle crunch slightly from the suction. He pulled the bottle out and sucked in a large gulp of air, wiping his mouth with his sleeve. He pulled his sleeve out and stuck out his hand in Darcy’s direction for a handshake. 

 

“Sam” he introduced.

 

“Darcy” she returned politely. 

 

“Thanks for the water, I’m trying to start running again and I forget I need water to live.” he chuckled, clean white teeth shining back at her. She simply nodded her head and gave him as small smile in return.

 

“Yea, I’ve been there.” She said quietly. The two sat there enjoying the clash of sounds, birds in the trees versus the honking hustle of traffic in front of them. Sam had finished his water and chucked it into the recycling can on the sidewalk, making a fist and pumping it when it went in. Darcy snorted at his behavior. She heard a deliberate honk in front of her and saw a car waiting, driver holding the door handle and calling out her name. She stood up and turned to her new acquaintance to nod goodbye at him. He raised his hand up at her and watched her get into the car.

 

She sat in the back and looked out at Sam Wilson through the tinted window, watching him watch the car. She thought she came across kind of rude, not engaging him in conversation like she usually would have in this time. As the car drove back to the compound she realized that she didn’t know how to be the old her. Her new experiences had seriously given her a new perspective on life.

 

If she saw the runner again, she’d be sure to engage him more. Maybe ask him out for a coffee or something. She needed to make some more friends. After all, she thought grimly, most of hers were dead.


	2. Chapter 2

She knew that Howard was a pig with women. But she was learning, 70 years after meeting the man, that he was just a pig by nature. The Stark storage facility located within Shield’s warehouse was, for lack of a better word, crowded and filthy. It appeared as if he kept everything he ever touched, wrote on, broke, or drank. Why? She wasn’t sure but as she stood in the entrance of the private part of the facility, Maria gave her a smirk and told her to enjoy looking around. 

There was a thick layer of dust on _everything_ , the only things that didn’t seem to be disgusting where whatever was lurking underneath the giant sheets. The storage facility was thick walled lead, and in fact the Shield warehouse was simply built around it. Maria told her that the Stark section simply went mostly untouched, anything of value had been documented and removed after his death as per his will. It was quite large according to the manifest of items contained within the unit, and Darcy took a lingering look around before disturbing anything.

Entering through a bolted 12” door, Darcy noted that this room was worthy of a special on Hoarders. From the entrance to the back wall there were many mountains of objects, precariously placed upon each other lit from the yellow fluorescent bulbs commonly found in ancient warehouses. You know, the ones that _buzzed_ and eventually made you wish you were deaf. She entered into the room, her scuffling feet the only noise other than the lights and noticed the kick up of dust and covered her mouth. She turned around to face Maria and almost hit Maria’s outreached hand, holding a dust mask out for her to take. She nodded, said thanks lightly and immediately put the mask on. 

“Since you’re a Stark, technically you can request that all these items be moved from this unit to the larger, more secure warehouse.” Maria said from outside the room, arms now crossed and giving Darcy a smile.

Darcy chuckled behind her newly affixed mask. “What, no response from Tony?” she answered to the older woman.

Maria shook her head and smirked. “You think we can actually get Tony to do anything around here? Since Loki, he’s been just as messed up as Erik or Clint. Pepper says he’s completely insomniac. But you’re here, and according to Fury, you’re closer to Howard then his own son. So feel free to make an executive decision regarding the storage.”

Darcy nodded at her and Maria walked off, leaving two armed agents to guard the opening as Darcy poked around. With her mask secure, she ripped off the closest sheet to her. Dust billowed and filled the room, and Darcy laughed when she saw what was under it. Howard’s failed hover car, picked apart for other projects. The inside had been ripped apart, seats taken out and filled with more junk. She picked up what looked like a flashlight that had been modified to extend out about 3 feet in front of the wielder. 

“Why, Howard. Why.” She muttered, throwing it back into the car. She wandered around the room, picking up occasional objects, questioning their existence and came across another sheet, pulling it off to reveal a desk. Howard’s desk, from when they were all working on Project Rebirth. She smiled and sat down, putting both hands down. The chair squealed in protest, the cushion padding long gone, as Darcy let her full weight settle into it. She dug around the drawers, opening each one, rifling through papers and noting once again, that Howard was a slob. No sense was made for his paperwork, he had lunch orders and random calendar months filed with mandatory field notes for the military (all incomplete, she noticed) and a graveyard of broken pencils littered throughout them. 

“Shit” Darcy uttered when one of the drawers would close. She attempted to slam it shut, rattling the drawer around to try and dislodge whatever was preventing the drawer from shutting. She stuck her arm inside the drawer and felt around blindly, the length of the drawer causing her arm to protect the overstretching. Her fingers finally caught the trouble, something that felt like a slender piece of metal, lodged between the back of the desk and the end of the drawer. She pulled the piece up, and the back of the desk immediately slammed down to the concrete floor, making a large booming sound that echoed around, even down the elevator. Darcy winced at the noise, and announced to the concerned agents that she was simply “an idiot who likes knocking shit over”. Drawer still open, she walked around the perimeter of the desk, not surprised such an old piece or scientific furniture fell apart.

She lifted the back of the desk to merely lean it against the desk frame to hopefully skitter away from it, when she noticed that the back of the desk was oddly shaped, rather thick for no reason. Her fingers brushed upon a fissure in the paneling, and so she pulled and peered into the crevice. She turned her light on and looked inside. Hollow. 

“Huh.” She mused, looking back at the door to see if anyone was looking. Free and clear, she began to pull it apart, the one side lifting completely off as it was only made of thin paneling. 2 large folders were mounted inside the back of the desk. Darcy’s eyes grew wide when she saw one of them had her name, _Darcy R. Lewis_ written on it in Howards writing. She grabbed the folder, and the other heavier one from the mounting and tried to fasten the paneling back on, before giving up and throwing the sheet back on the desk. She jammed the folders in her backpack that she brought in with her and continued to wander around, seeing if anything caught her eye before running upstairs to look at the mystery folders. She pulled off a few other curtains, finding boxes of seemingly random engine and missile parts, all non-lethal she hoped, and even a giant framed photo of Howard, which she laughed at and drew through the dust that managed to settle under the sheet to make him have an unflattering goatee and bikini top, which caused her to cackle under her dust mask.

She wasn’t quite prepared to go through everything, but right by the entrance she noticed the bottom of a trunk underneath a sheet. A familiar trunk. She hustled over, ripping the sheet off of it and tugging a lamp over, shattering it. The agents walked in and peeked in, which she responded with a simple wave of her hand, running her hands on the trunk in front of her initialized with “R. M. L.” her trunk. She removed all the items piled on top, only semi grateful that someone earlier had broken off the locks to peer inside. She opened the trunk, musty air puffing out and the smell of stale clothes seeped through her mask. The first thing she saw was her replacement Red Pea coat given to her from Howard when he was informed that she left hers behind in Austria. Her eyes filled up with water and she slammed the trunk closed. She was about done with creeping through the storage room.

She asked the two agents to help her with the trunk, wishing to bring it up to her room since it literally belonged to her _regardless_ of her Stark status. She marked on the manifest the removal of the trunk and its contents, listed as ‘clothing and textiles’. She also placed the note ‘shattered’ beside ‘Tiffany Lamp’ and signed off on it, putting the hefty booklet back in its place on the door. Lights off and door securely closed, she followed the two agents to her suite upstairs with her trunk and a much fuller backpack and thanked them for helping out. 

She rifled through the items in the trunk right away, making a pile of salvageable clothes and scrap clothes from the moth riddled items that had sat in the trunk for nearly 70 years. She found a couple of moth balls and appreciated the effort, but she could only save a few things. Her red coat, two pairs of Mary Jane heels, a thing summer dress made from rayon. Nearly all her delicate had been ravaged by time, and one dress, though damaged beyond repair wasn’t something she would party with. It was her cornflower blue dress she wore on the Howling Commandos last Huzzah party where her and Bucky had each professed their feelings for each other. Though it smelled rather musty and the sheer satin overlay had crumbled away when unfolded, she couldn’t get rid of it. She thought perhaps a talented seamstress could replicate it for her but for now she let it be, simply putting it in a plastic bag for safekeeping.

She turfed the unwearable into a garbage bag and folded the salvage items on top, texting Maria regarding on site dry-cleaning and whether or not she would have to seek other methods of cleaning. After Maria followed up immediately with a “We can handle it”, Darcy made herself a cup of coffee, black and settled on her sofa under a table lamp. She opened her backpack and brought out the two folders, crammed full and tied shut with 5 or 6 elastics each. She pulled off the elastics, the age of them showing when they snapped with no recoil from a single touch. The first folder that was unmarked was filled with Dr. Erskine and Howard’s notes on Project Rebirth. Slack jawed, she shuffled through papers, papers that had her double check symbol on them confirming equations. She realized very quickly this folder was something that Fury would want ASAP. She cringed at it, quickly jamming everything back into it and shoving it back into her backpack.

That was trouble she didn’t need right now. She was still unsure if she wanted to be loitering around Shield anymore. In her short time on Earth, she had met an alien (Thor), fought an alien robot (the Destroyer), discovered she was Tony Stark’s daughter (terrible), ran from a rogue giant (Hulk on the helicarrier), saved a helicarrier (sheer dumb luck) and travelled through time (and harnessed the power of a god’s cube). She was about done with all this shit. She was wondering if she could retire from the Shield life without being an official employee or agent. 

The second folder, the one with her name on it, sat on her lap until her half full cup of tea went cold. She turned the TV on, flicking it to a random channel for the comfort of broken silence if nothing more. She was far more delicate with this folder, afraid of what she might find. Holding the key to making more Super Soldiers? No problem! A folder marked only with her name from a man who died like 20 years ago? Scary. Terrifying.

The first thing in the folder was an envelope. She opened it up and saw a bunch of negatives of film. Shutting the envelope sot eh light wouldn’t damage them, she made a mental note to get materials to make a ghetto dark room in the second bathroom of her suite. Thank you internet for teaching her how to do that. The second thing she grabbed was a copy of her birth certificate. She frowned, flipping it over and noting in the bottom right corner an ‘R’ with a question mark beside it. This birth certificate had been copied nearly a year after her birth. She dug through the folder some more, finding newspaper clippings of the day after Steve Rogers sacrifice announcing his status as a hero. There were shots from her camera in the folder, including one of the group of Howling Commandos with Captain America front and center, Colonel Phillips, Howard and Peggy in the shot as well. The group was all smiling, proud of their service to their country, unaware of the tragic future some held. She smiled at it anyway, and put it in a pile separate from the rest so she could frame it. 

She grabbed another thicker booklet inside the folder and saw that it had the Bank of America insignia on it. She opened it, reading things like “Stock financing”, “Funds Transference” and “Officiate of Security Box” labelled on a bunch of things and decided that instead of trying to compared fancy banknotes, she’d just set up an appointment with them and get them to tell her what it all meant. She googled the nearest BoA and dialed, and as she was waiting on the phone, she pulled out another final package, head resting the phone on her shoulder as she opened it.

A wedding certificate. A wedding certificate between a Jonathan Proctor and Rebecca Barnes. She almost missed the receptionist of the bank talking at her on the phone as she looked through the rest of the papers, finding extensive information on the remaining Barnes family, dated all the way up to 1990. She set up an appointment with the bank and hung up with them (sometimes saying you were a Stark got you appointments whenever you wanted. Like later that day at 3pm). She pulled out some of the more recent paperwork on the surviving Barnes family members, realizing that there was a James Proctor that was currently living in Brooklyn now. She would have to creep him on Facebook later. His age put him at 32, so she was hoping he was tech savvy.

The final bundle of papers were easily the most manhandled. She noticed that it was all held together with elastic and once she removed them, a small note drifted into her lap. The picked it up and read the words:

_No wonder I liked you so much_

_Howard S._

Behind the small note was another official birth certificate of hers, not a copy. Behind that was her mother’s. Each piece of paper was about Darcy. Darcy, Darcy, not Howard’s Rosie Darcy. Long before she travelled back in time. There was a copy of official DNA results that Howard had apparently provided to her mother, Tony denying his part in her creation from the get go. She found a rather snarky letter from Tony that she recalled finding in her mother’s file when Darcy went through her room after her death, as well as the pleading letter from her mother requesting nothing more than acknowledgment for her child, no money. 

Tony’s cold response was where her dislike for the man started. Why should her mother bust her ass working for the two of them while her birth father screwed around on planes with models and actresses? Regardless of all that, it appeared as if Howard had taken control of the situation, plotting out an agreement with her mother that would handle Darcy’s _future_. Howard had apparently, according to the records, paid off Darcy’s mother’s debts and agreed to set aside a separate trust fund for her that would be awarded to her when she turned 25. Well after Darcy would obviously return to the future.

“Clever Boy” she mused, picking up a photo of Howard standing next to her young mother. In Howard’s hands was a baby. It took Darcy a couple of moments before she realized that Howard was holding _her_. Her eyes grew large and she read the elegant writing on the back of the photo, _Howard, Amanda and baby Darcy._. 

“Weeeeird” she said, looking at the photo of her with Howard, after she met him but also before she met him. “Fucking time travel” she muttered, but still put the photo with the picture of the Commandos in WW2.

She looked at the clock and saw it was just past lunch. She put her random Howard files all together again and jammed them back into the folder before putting it in her backpack with the other one. She brushed off her dusty clothes, contemplating changing before getting lunch and heading to the bank before shrugging it off. She texted Maria for a driver, saying she had to get to the bank to sort out some paperwork from her mother’s death (not a true lie) and waited by the entrance to the facility outside.

A large black SUV rolled up and she hopped in, noticing it was the same driver as the day before. She gave him the instructions to the Bank, asking if he could stop through a Starbucks before they got to the bank, saying “my treat” and getting a small smile from the big man before he took off down the driveway.


	3. Chapter 3

Darcy’s throat was dry, scratchy. She cleared her throat a few times as her whole body shivered and her eyes fluttered round the room nervously. 

“”Um…Pardon?” She said, voice strained and small. “What did you just say?”

Her hands came together and she started ringing them anxiously. They were so sweaty. She ignored the uncomfortable sensation, feeling very much like a deer in headlights, staring at the suited woman in front of her behind the large desk.

“One billion, two hundred and eight million, seven hundred and seventy nine thousand, four hundred and fifty six dollars and sixty seven cents.”

$1,208,779,456.67.

“Again?” Darcy repeated weakly.

The woman across from her sighed and repeated it, obviously unused to dealing with people in shock.

“And that’s classified as an inheritance?” She questioned, gears in her brain finally kicking in.

“According to a one Howard Anthony Walter Stark, he has acknowledged your birth and officially set up the trust fund into a high risk investment, which apparently has been quite successful. Darcy swallowed nothing in particular a few times, shaking her head with her eyes wide, unable to say anything further.

“But Miss Lewis,” the bank lady, Victoria, Darcy remembered, continued “you are only eligible for obtaining 20% of your trust fund at this time. The remainder may be taken on your 25th birthday, which is still a few years away.”

 

Finally Darcy laughed. And rather manically too, due to her nerves. Oh no! Whatever would she do with nearly 250 Million dollars? Oh she was sure she’d find a way to use it. Jane’s experiments could be fully financed without Shield intervention now. They could finally go to England and research those weird pockets that started showing up on Jane’s radar a couple years ago – wait, no. Months. Couple months ago.

She really needed to adjust her vocabulary to reflect her time jump a little better.

“No, no, I understand.” She said when she calmed down, noticing that Victoria the bank lady had her finger hovering over the ‘security’ button. “I’m totally fine with that. So what do I gotta do to spend that dough? Open an account?”

Excited at the prospect of finally handling a Stark account, Victoria brightened. “We can finalize a proper stable account with all necessary securities Miss. We can have you ready to go by the end of the hour” Smiling brightly, she went to her computer to draft a few pages for Darcy to sign. 

“And what about the security deposit boxes that are mentioned in Howard’s paperwork?” Darcy inquired, having the shock of her inheritance news wear off long enough for her to remember the other details.

“Ah yes, those were in our Brooklyn central Bank, they were picked up shortly after your phone call and your box is currently being driven in an armored car to this bank. I assume our branch will be your home branch?” Darcy nodded, answering with a ‘sure’.

The bank's lawyer came in and went over all the necessary details of Darcy’s monetary release, and the hour ended with her signing a papers.

 

**

 

As for her security box, Victoria took her into the secure locked room and gestured to the rather large, old style safe sitting on the floor. Darcy frowned, confused.

“Um…aren’t security boxes usually…smaller?” She asked the woman, confused by the sheer size of the box.

“Some are, some aren’t” Victoria said, “The Brooklyn facility was established in the 20s, so the security boxes were of many varying sizes. Here is your manifest and your Key, please knock when you’re ready to leave!” and Victoria left, leaving her in the empty, bright room with hundreds of tiny boxes built into the wall, hers sitting on the floor currently. She assumed after she was done pilfering the contents of the box they would move it to a larger safe room or something. It certainly wasn’t able to sit in here until the end of time.

She checked her watch: 4:30pm. Man, she was running out of time. After Starbucks she told the driver she would be watching a double feature film at the old theatre near the bank. He drove off and she ditched the film 15 minutes after the lights went out to make her appointment. She better hurry up.

She briefly glanced at the manifest before deciding that she always liked surprises and simply opening the box up. As large and heavy as it was, it wasn’t entirely just jam packed full of stuff. In fact, Darcy could only see at most about 5 separate items inside. She pulled out the largest box first, as it took up nearly the entire bottom shelf. She pried off the lid and smiled big.

Her camera. And in the box inside a very thick but small envelope were a few negatives. 

“Thanks Howie” she SAID to herself, putting them on the table beside the safe and settling down in a crossed legs position. 

She grabbed the next small box, it was about 5 inches tall and 4 inches wide and encased in black velvet with a plaque written with “R. M. Lewis” on it. It was a bit dusty from age and she opened it. 

“Holy shit balls” Darcy swore, taking in what was staring back at her. It was a Purple Heart. A Purple Heart! “Holy shit!” She repeated, touching the medal in awe. Wow. She imagine Colonel Phillips had something to do with this, for sure. She closed the box delicately and placed it on the table beside her camera. She continued poking around. 

There was another velvet box, this one a navy blue one and was embossed with a “H. S”. She opened it with a smile that faltered immediately when she saw what was inside. 

Lying on a soft satin pillow were her hair barrettes given to her from Dr. Erskine at her belated birthday party. The silver was slightly tarnished, darker than she remembered due to age. Her finger brushed lightly over the crystals, her breath skipping a bit at the memories that flashed in front of her. Her eyes were a filling up with tears as she gave the hair pieces a smile. She felt guilty that she had forgotten about the barrettes, but after his death Darcy found it painful to wear them often. She remembered wrapping them up in a scarf in her suitcase when she left to find the Valkyrie, and she was suddenly quite grateful that Howard was such a diligent snoop. Without him digging around for these items she cared so deeply about, she may never have found them again. She delicately closed the box and put it directly into her purse. There would be little chance these would leave her sight ever again.

She had come to the final box. This one was the best beat up, and it was simply made of steel or a similar metal. She used both thumbs to unlock the two padlocks and opened it up to find something she honestly never thought she would see again in her lifetime.

It was her old iPhone.

It was not in the same condition as she left it, in fact it looked like it only had the screen and most of the internal hardware of the original device. It had been obviously taken apart and put back together poorly. The internal components were attached onto a larger circuit board, and there was a plate on the back with a handle, obviously fashioned by Howard as it was rather big for her hand. She looked around the entire piece, and noticed that he had managed to attach a completely separate external cord that looked like it had been cut and rewired to other plugs, laughing when she came to the end of it. It looked like he had fused an old wire from the 50s to a newer 80s plug so it could plug into a wall. Does that mean that he was successful in powering it up? She put it back into the metal box and looked inside the safety deposit box. Empty. To be sure she ran her fingers along each edge, thinking that if he hid stuff in his old desk for her he may have done it here. Satisfied with her investigation, she got up and knocked on the door, asking for Victoria or another bank official to come in. 

When Victoria reentered, she requested a smaller deposit box, asking for the Purple Heart to be relocated into a smaller deposit box, and stating that she would be removing all other contents and taking them home. She and Victoria signed off on the changes, and by 5:30, Darcy was starving. The camera, though around her neck, was pretty darn heavy. She had managed to fit her newly acquired items into her backpack, and was now heading towards the theatre to wait for the shield driver to pick her up. She stopped inside a café on the way and splurged on pastries and gourmet coffee to drink at home, her newly acquired millions already burning a hole in her pocket. She ordered a tea to go and was munching on a donut when the driver pulled up. She hopped in and fastened her seatbelt awkwardly around her camera before a voice spoke beside her and scared the living daylights out of her.

“You trying to win the hipster of the year award? That camera is older than my father.” Tony Stark said, buckled in the seat beside her. 

“JESUS Christ!” Darcy let out, jerking in shock and spilling coffee on her leg. Tony laughed at her reaction and crossed his one leg over the other. 

“So, are you always being babysat by Shield?” He asked her as she attempted to minimize the burning by wiping up the spilled coffee with her donut napkin. Darcy growled at the situation, wishing she would just be home already to order every single boxed set of her favourite TV Shows now that she wasn’t too concerned with money anymore.

“Just since they A.) Found out I was your secret love child and B.) Travelled back in time 70 years in the future and fucked around with the time space continuum. Both reasons logical enough to me to require constant supervision” she muttered to him, still not facing in his direction. The letter that she remembered he wrote to her mother announcing her pregnancy was still fresh on her mind, not to mention that he wasn’t anything like his father and she was admittedly bitter about that.

“Ah yes. That time travel business. How was that?” He asked, seemingly uninterested. She rolled her eyes so hard at him that she actually felt them strain. And further rolling and they might fall right out of her head. 

“Like a vacation in Bermuda. Only less shorts, more gunfire and bad coffee” she said to him. He chuckled at her antics, taking a moment to stare out the window at a woman crossing the street. After a couple seconds of awkward silence Tony finally let Darcy know what his true intention for bombarding her in her ‘personal’ shield car.

“Pepper says you were granted partial inheritance money” he stated. Darcy looked at him wryly and raised her eyebrows, humming a sound of agreement. 

“Quite a lot of money, she says.” He continued. Another sound of agreement from Darcy as she rested her elbow on the arm rest and leaned her chin on her fisted hand. “Do you know how to be responsible with your trust fund?” Darcy rolled her eyes and gave him a side eye. 

“Do you?” She replied snidely, even though she knew he spent a fair chunk of change on repairing New York after Loki. She was mostly bitter from his lack of support when she was a child.

Her attitude didn’t faze him. That was the nice thing about Tony. You could be as rude as you wanted to him and he would barely bat an eye. Assholes are usually unfazed by assholish behavior, she thought. He clicked his tongue and turned his body to face hers better. She turned her head and gave him a look in slight disgust at his attempt to ‘bond’ with her. She didn’t say anything however so Tony took it as an all clear to converse with her further.

“Look, the time travel…must have been weird. Especially since you met my dad –“

“My grandfather?” she interjected, taking please in seeing the flash of discomfort on his face.

“Yea…” he continued, hand coming up to rub the back of his neck. “Howard. Anyway. What did he leave you?” She knew that wasn’t his initial question, her clear interruption changing his path of thought. But she figured she would throw him a frickin bone. The other handful of times that Tony and Darcy had interacted were very limited. They never really gave each other the opportunity to talk. 

“He left me my things,” she snorted, realizing that was indeed all her left her in name. She smiled down at the camera around her neck. “He gave me this camera for my birthday so it’s actually _not_ as old as Howard, and a couple of hair barrettes and a Purple Heart.” She omitted the iPhone. That was her business.  
Tony recoiled a bit from the mention of the Purple Heart. “He gave you a Purple Heart?” he said incredulously. She nodded in response.

“Yea he left me _my_ Purple Heart. Imagine that, I died in WW2. Howard and I had fibbed a bit and he posed as my Uncle while I was working on the Captain America project with him so I imagine that’s why he had it.” She rambled, trying to bypass the awkward tension in the back of the SUV they were in. 

Tony laughed, “He pretended to be your Uncle? How did you manage to convince him to do that? From what I know about my old man, he was a pretty big womanizer in his heyday.” It was Darcy’s turn to laugh at his reaction. The playboy gene was dominant in the Stark men, obviously Tony was ignoring that similarity to his old man.

“I basically threatened him with physical violence and revenge A La Peggy Carter.” She said to him, finally smiling at Tony. He laughed slightly. She continued her story “And not to mention after I brought up our physical similarities, he couldn’t think of me any other way, I ruined the fantasy for him.” She shuddered and laughed at the same time, “Thank god. I may have just jumped in front of a car if my own grandfather kept hitting on me.” Augh. She remembered the initial fear and warning from Peggy when she realized she would be working with the famed lady killer. She shuddered once more for effect.

“What uh…what was he like to work with?” Tony asked, obviously drifting closer to the topic that interested him most. She remembered Tony ranting about his old man once, saying that he was ‘never good enough for him’ and never really wanted to spend quality time with him which is why his mother and he were so close. She knew what it was like being ignored from a father so she thought she’d throw him another chance at bonding.

“He was infuriating.” She said bluntly, getting both a frown from Tony and a small smirk. 

“Really?”

“Disorganized, scatterbrained, easily distracted, lazy – he was essentially a nine year old with a big boy body on ADHD after a sugar binge. He was so frustrating to try to get to finish one project before starting another.”

Tony barked out a laugh. “Everyone says he was a super genius!” he exclaimed to her.

“Oh, he was a genius, no doubt about that. But he was annoying as hell. End of story. Smart, brilliant, annoying and a big pest. He started a big prank war and it only ended when I made him lose a part of his eye brows” she said, remembering the incident fondly. Tony howled beside her, and she couldn’t help but smile back at him. 

While she wasn’t going to admit that she and Tony were anything more than polite acquaintances, she was proud at her ability to try and overcome the past (since she had more than on now) and attempt to create a friendship with her biological father. They managed to find a calm peace between them, both understanding that their relationship was now only forming from their only thing in common – Howard. She couldn’t help but smile softly at the realization that even now her old friend was meddling in her life.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter to get some basic crap out of the way. Starting to head back into MCU film territory.

She glanced at the newest entry in her phone when she got back up to her suite with her newly reclaimed property.

_Tony S/ Iron Man_

It felt weird to her that she was getting to a point in her life where her ability to hold grudges was faltering.

She knew the only real reason she was giving him a chance because she did love Howard so much and couldn’t help but see the similarities of her relationship with Tony and his with Howard. All three of them were surprisingly stubborn and suffered from too much pride. But a little part of her was curious if Tony was more like Howard then she thought, and she knew that at the moment Tony was just curious about Howard as a person rather than a father. It wasn’t the healthiest way to start off a relationship, but neither was finally talking to each other after one party traveled back in time and another nearly died in space.

Oh well. Better late than never.

She relieved her body of her camera and her heavy backpack and let her body fall onto the couch, sinking into it. She barely had a moment to think before someone was knocking on her door. She rolled her eyes and asked who it was, loudly with an annoyed tinge to her question.

“Steve?” she heard her friend say, questioning himself. She could hear him nervously think about running away and leaving her own, but she got up and gestured for him to come in, softening her face. She would always have a weak spot for Steve. Most of the time the two of them just sat in silence while she chose important films and TV shows for him to watch. She usually referred to their hangouts as “Current Event Catch Up”, since she was easily the best teacher to educate the soldier on the modern world.

She caught a look at the films Steve had in his hand. A beat up DVD of “Fast Times at Ridge Mont High” and “Dazed and Confused”. Darcy lost it. Her hand clutched her stomach as she broke into full cackles, and used her other arm to brace herself on the firm soldier. Steve looked embarrassed, blushing and looking up to the ceiling.

“Clint recommended them, they were the only ones without a bow and arrow on the cover,” he defended. Darcy had to take a few minutes to catch her breath, wiping away tears on her face.

“Steve. Steve-O. Buddy. No.” She gasped out, the covers of the films staring back at her. “You are _not_ ready for these, regardless of their status as a couple of the greatest films ever made. No. Baby steps.” She took the films out of his hand, grinning widely at them and enjoying the shift in mood she just experienced. Steve didn’t know it just yet, but he always put a smile on her face. He was just a kind person, and willing to listen.

She turned on the TV to see if any of the recorded shows had finished to pick one out of them. She found a couple of Disney films had finished (though they were mostly for her) but she also realized that ‘The Lion King’ had recorded so she selected it.

“Another kid’s movie?” Steve asked, letting out a small groan but still hopping over the couch to settle in comfortably. She knew he wasn’t bothered. She knew he loved them regardless of his griping. He was way too into Sleeping Beauty. She figured it was because it was sort of similar to his watery tale.

She also knew he would like Lion King _way more_ than the 90s film “Captain America” starring Matt Salinger. That one she watched with him for the first time, both agreeing the film was certainly not worth the two stars it had been given on IMDB. She had felt embarrassed for herself insisting they watch it, and both ended up morbidly curious how a film from the 90s managed to correctly predict Steve’s eventual return to the living world.

They both agreed to never talk about the film again, and watched his pick, “Schindler’s List” afterwards. A film that _she_ would never forgive him for, as it made her ‘ugly-cry’. But still, the two both enjoyed each other’s company, even more so since Darcy had returned with the memories of Rose.

They still had yet to go in depth about which memories were swimming around Steve’s head. Many times he messed up a memory because it was before the time jump – apologizing for not being friendlier or more open with her when she was just ‘Darcy’ and not ‘Rose-Darcy’. Both of them had apologized for things that technically hadn’t happened -- both unsure how to act when they got confused from the memories.

Steve was a pal, and he had already known about what had happened to most of his and Darcy's friends before her time travel stint -- and save for Howard, everyone's final end remained the same. He and Darcy had a gentle sit down a couple days after she got accustomed to the future once again, getting her up to date on who did what and went where after the War ended. She was grateful he kept her updated, and save for the private folder she found on Bucky's family, she was well versed on the status of everyone.

She was still thinking about the folder, curious if she should involve Steve. She didn't really know what good it would do for the two of them to go to Brooklyn to talk to the grandson, and possible great grandchildren, the folder was decades old now, of his best friend and her former lover. She was afraid of what she might see, afraid that Bucky's death in the Alps would have created a negative trickle down effect on his family and blamed Steve. She didn't know if she could forgive herself for bringing Steve to Bucky's remaining family only to discover that they hated him. She reminded herself to use her Google-Fu later to find out as much as she could before telling Steve she had intel.

Steve noticed her furrowed brow and lip chewing, her signals for deep thought, and threw a pillow at her, getting a sharp yelp from her as she grabbed at her glasses to correct them.

 

"Lewis, you better be watching this movie with me. I can't handle any more flack from Barton if he catches wind of me watching Disney cartoons by myself" He said, laughing at her shocked face and she shook off the effects of the pillow.

"What are you talking about? Which movie?" She questioned, curious to know what he watched on his own.

"Barton came over to my apartment and the television started playing the remainder of 'Aladdin' when he turned it on" Steve said to her, rolling his eyes "Clint did not accept my defense that you came over and insisted we watched it." Further irritating her by poking her side with his elbow.

"Stephen Rogers I demand you stop, my favorite villains are coming up" She huffed at him, straightening out herself on the couch to regain some of the comfort Steve managed to steal from her. 

The two carried on, watching a Disney classic in good spirits, securing their friendship a bit further.

 

__

Darcy loved having Steve over, but she swore he ate all her food whenever he visited. All of her bananas were consumed, and the milk was over half gone. Maria was curious why Darcy had required grocery trips every couple of days until the younger woman had told her to compare it to Steve's check ins at the facility. Now Darcy was simply restocked the day after a Steve visit without question, but it was always frustrating to try and eat a healthy breakfast when the fiend had eaten everything she was craving.

9:00 am.

Jane was still gone, but she was kind enough to text her in the early AM that she was excited for their possible London trip if she could get the funding together. Darcy had responded "I will pay for the whole thing if you let me sleep" which ended the texts, but she doubted that Jane took her seriously.

Seriously though. Darcy was a billionaire and had done nothing irresponsibly since being told. Tony had drilled some key points into her head, like not telling people about it and getting in contact with the Stark chief accountant in order to maintain the security on the account. He said he would get Pepper to handle most of the paperwork (admitting he was not the person to help out) and so she was expecting either a visit or call from the woman. 

With her student loans paid off from her scholarship and no mortgage or rent to speak of at the moment, Darcy didn't even know how she would spend her next $100. Shield had moved most of her possessions to their facility when Steve woke from his brief coma when she disappeared and told Fury and Maria about where she was, so she didn't even need to replace many items when she flew forward. 

Darcy grabbed a suspicious looking orange from the back drawer in her refrigerator and booted up her computer. Her emails pinged, most simple notifications from Facebook and twitter, which she deleted. Then she started looking up various charities she had always been interested in but could never afford to donate to at the time, and starting setting up donation accounts. In about an hour she had given up a couple hundred thousand, a sum she still couldn't believe that she was capable of sacrificing for other people. She had gone back to her bank account online to look at the changing figures, minimal due to her sheer available wealth.

Her phone received a text. Jane! She read it over, laughing to herself maniacally at the message.

 _Funding request was denied, I set up a kick-starter_ read Jane's text.

Darcy shot back a quick _that sucks janie, hoping for a science nerd to help out?_ before looking up Jane's name on the kickstarter page. 

Bingo.

 

It was already a couple days old, Jane obviously figuring that no one would be willing to fund her theoretical research on 'possible' changes being picked up 'in or around London'. Darcy began the donation process, texting Jane with one hand and filling in her information online with the other.

J: _Hopefully. How are you doing?_

D: _oh yno, just great. functional AC and proper fridges were missed_

J: _I'm still reeling from the news. Time travel is completely related to this research. I have so many questions for you when I get back!_

Darcy groaned, but knew that Jane would probably be the best to explain what had happened to Darcy. In a Darcy-friendly way, too. And Jane would be exceptionally happy that Darcy had experience with Physics in the literal sense, hopefully wondering if she could be more help to her friend during their next bout of research.

D: _a cruller and a decent coffee and i'm yours foster._

J: _:D I miss you._

Darcy attempted to reply, but the loud sirens on the property started to go off. Shocked and still in her pajamas, Darcy entered her donation amount to Jane's kick-starter and wandered out of her apartment door with her orange. Phone in hand she texted Maria and began to head to the panic room like she was instructed to do when she moved in, before Maria had popped out of the elevator with 4 armed guards. Maria stopped in front of Darcy and the soldiers continued down the hall until they were completely out of sight.

Still confused, Darcy swallowed the orange in her mouth and tucked her hair behind her ear. 

"Uh...morning?" She said to the older woman. Maria gave her a small smile and tilted her head. 

"Sorry Darcy, there was a terrorist attack overseas, and we had an issue with the alarm system. Since you came back through the tesseract, the electric has all been messed up. You can ignore the sirens, the soldiers are just going through a training bit now. "

"Oh. A terrorist attack?" She raised an eyebrow and popped another orange piece in her mouth.

"Well, unconfirmed. But a man has interrupted basic feed and uploaded a video on the internet claiming to be called 'The Mandarin', but as it stands, nothing has been proven. Right now it seems like this guy is feeding off of the chaos trying to get some fame." Maria stated, responding to a message on her phone. 

"Scumbags." Darcy said through her half chewed orange, getting a grunt of agreement from Maria. "Well, if that's all -- y'no, fake terrorist attacks and sirens blazing by accident, I'm going to put a bra on and finally start the day." She said, heading back towards her apartment.

"I would think so, it's nearly eleven." Maria said while she checked her watch. "I'd also take a shower or play some music, I'm about to yell at these slow-ass soldiers until they cry."

Darcy shot a thumbs up behind her head and she opened her door and walked in. 

Her life certainly remained exciting since her time travel, that's for sure.


	5. Chapter 5

After the first seemingly ‘innocent’ claim from the ‘fake’ terrorist the Mandarin, he started to take claim for many other events before they hit and eventually SHIELD started to take him seriously. A couple weeks had passed since the first and it had taken a lot of attention away from her, something she was grateful for.

Darcy’s mega security restrictions had been partially lifted due to the recent activity and also due to her ‘good behavior’. She was finally able to leave the compound with a sign out card rather than an escort. Which means that she was also able to take a vehicle out on her own. To drive. By herself. 

She headed down to the garage, bag packed for a simple day out in the city, finally getting sick of being cooped up in the compound watching TV and binge watching YouTube. She and Jane had already started the preliminary supply list and agenda for their London trip, after the ‘anonymous science nerd’ had made a generous donation to Jane’s kick starter. After asking (i.e: begging) Fury to let her go, regardless of the chaos of the Mandarin attacks, he finally succumbed and said it was fine. As long at she and Jane took SHIELD piloted planes and maintained constant communication with them while the two were overseas.

Darcy scanned her card to get into the garage, smiling with glee when the light blinked green and the door swept open, letting her in. There were a couple of soldiers loitering around, surprised to see what looked like a civilian wandering around the garage. There was a tall man walking her way, holding a tablet and carrying a frown.

“Can I help you miss?” He asked her, brow raised.

Darcy shot her hand out, but when he didn’t move to take it she awkwardly put it back into her coat pocket.

“Uh, Darcy Lewis?” She flashed her card, “I’m here to sign out a car. To drive.” 

He tapped a few things on his tablet, and snorted. 

“You’re only allowed to sign out Level 1 vehicles, which means your selection is quite limited.” He said with a note of attitude. She gave him a tight smile, repeating to herself that she needed to behave less she get her privileges restricted. Again.

“Right now I have no cars. Any car would be good, thanks.” She said, as cheerfully as she could. He sighed at her and turned away, beckoning for her to come with him and opening a garage door, revealing many cars, all black, that looked like basic family friendly cars.

“Take your pick” he said. She shrugged her shoulder and gestured to the one at the front of the line. She just wanted to get out of here for crying out loud. 

“Alright. Sign here please” he handed her his tablet and she signed her name, and allowed the tablet to scan her card. 

“Your card turns on the car now, there is a button inside. Don’t hit anything,” and he spun on his heel, walking away, boots clicking on the concrete. Darcy made a bunch of faces at his back, waving her hands around in a mocking manner as she backed up towards the car. Someone nearby laughed at her antics and she spun around, catching eyes with a fully armed Shield agent, walking into the garage after what she could only assume was a dirty mission, as his eyes had some kind of black soot around them.

She smiled awkwardly at him, hoping that the guy in front of her with the big gun wasn’t best friends with the garage jockey. He stopped a few paces away from her and looked at her up and down. He gave her a confused face and nodded his head at her.

“Who are you?” He asked, giving her an intense stare.

“Darcy Lewis.” She replied. He stared at her a bit more intensely, making her uncomfortable. 

“Ah. Time girl.” He said, “I knew I knew that name.” he said, ending on a smile. She loosened up a bit, still unsure of how she should feel.

“And yooou are?” she inquired, trying to find a name tag on his front vest, but it had been singed off from whatever mission he was just on. 

“Brock. Brock Rumlow.” He said to her, sticking his dirty hand out for a handshake before he caught sight of it, realizing that it was covered in dirt and probably not the best for introductions at that time. Both of them laughed at the realization and she waved at him instead.

“Nice to meet you Brock! I gotta date with some fro-yo and pigeons! See you around!” She said to him as she walked towards her borrowed car, opening the door. He waved back at her without saying anything further and headed to the garage jockey’s office. Darcy got in the car and drove out the open garage door to the outside of the compound and began to head into the city.

As she took in the passing scenery, should couldn’t believe that she hadn’t driven in almost a couple of years. Again, fuck time travel. As she made her way through the busier part of the city, jam packed with cars and bikes, she found herself making her way to the highway.

She really did have good intentions to buy some frozen yogurt and sit in the park with the old people feeding pigeons, but at the moment it felt like she was having an out of body experience. She knew she was heading straight into Brooklyn, but she didn’t stop herself, instead taking the exit and heading down the off ramp to end up in the city she wasn’t quite ready to visit.

As she headed through Brooklyn, she couldn’t believe how much it had changed since she was last there (and granted, it was 70 years prior). But since she wasn’t overly familiar with the City before she found herself in the 1940s, the changes she noticed now were even greater than she thought. In the past she had easily considered it one of her favourite places to be, the charming store fronts and neon lights scattered throughout. The boardwalk held certain memories for her and she realized too late that she had ended up in front of it. She parked the car and paid for parking before getting out and heading towards the entrance. 

The day was clouded over, and she was glad that she had brought a coat. She wandered down the pier taking in the new sights and reminiscing about her first real ‘date’ she had with Bucky. She had spent the last couple of weeks since coming back to her own time trying to ignore all thoughts of her brief romance with the soldier, still finding it difficult to do so. And here she was, walking along the path they had once shared together, regardless of the time jump.

Many things had remained the same, just the boards were a bit more worn, the garbage bins were a bit more filled and the odor nearly overpowered the ocean when the breeze was stagnant. There were sketchy people loitering around and it lacked the romance she remembered from when Bucky took her there. Where they danced was another lone musician, playing a blues song, and Darcy tossed a $5 bill into his open guitar case, getting a big smile from the artist which she returned. She grabbed a drink from a kiosk and wandered back to her car. She didn’t want to spend too long in a place that didn’t leave her with the same pleasant memories.

Getting back into the car she thought about why she was there. She stared out the front window, simply watching crowds of people pass by. She looked at her phone, slightly miffed that there were no new alerts to answer. Since she came back, she had been given the grand opportunity to figure out exactly who her real friends were. She lacked the passion of Facebook and twitter she used to have, instead finding the repetitive nonsense being spouted at her was rather monotonous. Perhaps she was simply growing up. She started the car, still confused why she ended up on the pier, and began to make her way back to the highway.

She took the long way, trying to pass by all the haunts she remembered from her time in Brooklyn. The antique store where Steve was made was closed up, the facility she lived in when she first made it back to America with Dr. Erskine was demolished, the park where the first Stark Expo was still busy. Darcy parked on the street to run up to a woman selling bundles of flowers. She hastily picked out a bundle of yellow roses and gave the woman a large bill to cover it, yelling for her to keep the change as she popped back into the car. Then she stopped by a liquor store and grabbed a bottle of whiskey.

She ended up at the graveyard, and marched up to the familiar grave underneath a now large tree. She sat down, placed the roses in the marker and poured some whiskey on the tombstone before taking a swig herself, recoiling at the taste – she never liked whiskey.

“Hey Doc.” She said to the grave, crossing her legs and reading the words on the tombstone as if it were the first time.

“I’m back. In my time.” She started, knowing it was foolish to talk to a chunk of stone. “Steve is here too. He’s still the goody two shoes you always wished him to be. Sometimes I think he’s TOO kind. Oh well.” She hummed a bit, staring around and the birds fluttering in and out of the tree, checking her watch.

“I’m sorry I didn’t know you died.” She said, voice choking up. “I would have tried something I swear. But honestly Bucky still died and Howard, and I tried to help out both of them—" she pinched her nose trying to halt the tears welling up. “I’m trying to talk to Tony, Howard’s son. My dad. Build…something. I don’t know. A relationship? I don’t even know what to call it, I’m an adult. I don’t need a parent right now, especially one who is so mentally stunted. But…I think I need a friend. And I think he needs one too.” She paused again to catch her breath. It was easy opening up to a man who could only listen.

“I’m tired Doc. In the last two years I’ve met an Asgardian Prince, found my real dad, nearly died from the same man _twice_ , fought aliens, traveled back in time, made Captain America, fought Nazi’s, mocked the Red Skull, fell in love -- _lost_ a love, became best friends with my grandfather and traveled to the future. And have nothing to show for it but a broken heart and no friends. Well, Steve. But both of us are lost.” She ended weakly, staring at the Dr’s name on the tombstone.

“What else do I do? How can I just…live like I used to? I’m not sleeping well, I’m riddled with guilt…Steve puts on a front but I know he’s jaded. I meddled in the past and he lost his friend…Bucky…in such a wretched way I wish I never tried to help.”

A few moments of silence passed between her and the grave.

“I’m scared a little part of him hates me Doc” she admitted. Even though the two of them had hung out a bunch since her return, it was the same vicious little thought that kept popping up in her head. She couldn’t help it. Even if Steve told her to her face that he didn’t blame or hate her, she would still wonder if he was being truthful.

She uncrossed her legs to stretch them out, staring up to the sky until she noticed the looming grey clouds beginning to gather. The wind picked up a bit and Darcy knew a quick rainfall was eminent. 

She sighed and gave her old friend a weak smile. 

“Thanks for everything Doc. I’m glad we met.” The rain was already beginning to fall, a drop hitting her lens “I miss you.” She said quietly, placing her fingers lightly on the top of the tombstone. She ran back to the car as the weather took a turn for the worse and she heard the thunder. 

“Thor, you jackass, ruining my moment” she mumbled, knowing it wasn’t really his fault. She did like to blame him for it regardless. If you’re going to preach about being the God of Thunder, get used to the blame she thought. She took off to the street, getting back to the highway in a bit of a better mood even though she just came from a graves.

Getting into the car, she turned the radio on, switching it to an AM station and hummed some oldies as she made her way back into the city, hoping that her good mood stuck with her.

 

While her mood remained in high spirits, the weather had taken a serious turn for the worse. Stuck in traffic from another accident, Darcy took in the time to herself, holding the steering wheel with one hand, her elbow resting on the door with her fingers twisting and playing with her hair.

Even though the windshield wipers were going back and forth furiously, it looked like someone was standing on the roof of her car pouring gallons of water on her front window. She was looking out her passenger window, looking at the unfortunate people that had been caught in the rain, running for available cabs or open awnings from stores in an attempt to stay dry. 

She took a double take when she slowly passed a little deli place and noticed a familiar face. Runner guy!

 _Shit…what was his name? Did I get his name?_ she was staring at him, traffic at a standstill and made a spontaneous decision. She pressed the window button for the passenger side and shouted out the window.

“Hey!” She shouted in his direction, successfully getting his attention when she shouted out a few more times. “Yea! Yea you Runner guy, remember me?!” He smiled, his white teeth illuminating his face. 

“Yeah!” he shouted back, waving at her.

“Want a ride wherever? Rain’s not letting up anytime soon!”

If possible, he smiled even larger and ran over to the car. Remembering the location of her Taser, she moved her purse to settle in the front of her seat, left leg holding it in place for safekeeping. Runner guy opened the door, sat down and closed the door in a single fluid moment, wiping his wet head with his wet hand and laughed at his predicament. 

Darcy laughed in return, suddenly realizing that she had invited a complete stranger into her car to get out of the rain. She had a moment of clarity and realized she had actually packed a lighter sweater in her bag, and took it out, giving it to the Runner Guy.

“Here, wipe up the water with this” she offered.

“You sure? Thanks, much appreciated” he said to her, accepting her sweater and wiping off his face with it. “Man, it is _ugly_ out there.”

“Bet you weren’t expecting it! Where am I taking you?” She asked now that traffic was moving again. 

“Oh, just home actually if you don’t mind. I only live about 15 blocks away and I try to walk everywhere but today’s a day I wish I drove more.” He told her a street name to turn onto that was coming up. “So, Imma be honest but I forgot your name if you told me. I’m Sam Wilson.” He said to her, lightly saluting her and giving her a big smile.

Man, his smile was more infectious than Bucky’s she wagered. He had a slight gap between his teeth that she found rather charming and impish. She responded with his smile with a big one of her own, putting her own slight gap on display.

“Darcy Lewis. Sorry I called you Runner Guy.” She apologized, blushing slightly at her admission and looking back towards the road to make their turn. He laughed at her and gave her a few more directions.

“So, this is a swanky car – yours? I’m loving this automatic seat warmer,” he said while poking around.

“Hah! Not likely. This is a work car. On loan. What about you, you drive?” 

“Nah, everything I need in this city is close by. My work, my volunteering, my gym routine –" he flashed her another smile and made her laugh. “I just walk. I used to have a car but I got rid of it.”

“Ah.” She said, nodding her head. She made another turn under his instruction. “So you volunteer?” she inquired, curious.

“Yea, I do some free counselling for people suffering with PTSD at the center by the Smithsonian. I’ve been doing it since I was discharged from the Military.” He explained, looking back at her. 

“Wow! That’s awesome! I mean, not really because like…PTSD sucks and all, but you- you’re awesome. Am I making sense? Oh my god Darcy, calm down.” She rambled, getting caught up in her excitement. Sam shook his head and laughed at her. 

“No, no, I get it. Haha, yea I suffered from PTSD when I first came back and I know what it’s like to get caught up in the negative way of thinking.” 

She nodded and tightened her mouth. “Yea, I can understand that.”

“So what do you do? You’re young, driving a company car. Can’t be doin’ too bad.” He asked her politely.

“Eeeh, my professional title is ‘Intern’, but I just got an honorary degree in physics, a real degree in Political Science and a Master’s degree in sass. Right now I’m just waiting for my next project with my best friend. We’re heading to London soon for ‘sciencing’ “ She prattled off, glad she could say that she had plans for the future. 

Sam gave her an impressed head shake. “That’s cool. Is ‘sciencing’ and official term?”

She made a ‘puh-shaw’ sound with her mouth, “Uh, _yea_ ” and she gave him a smile. He stopped her outside a quaint house and she slowed down, parking on the road. “This is me! Thanks Darcy, I really appreciate it. This rain is nuts!”

“Sam, no problem. You were good conversation. Thanks for not being a creepy serial killer, I really appreciate _that_ ”, she made her finger into a gun and made a clicking noise with her mouth as she gestured it in his direction. “Really, thanks for the company.”

“If you think I’m good conversation now, how about hanging out at the center? Stop by one day to check it out. If you’re just looking for good company, there are loads of people looking for the same. Here’s my number.” He gave her a business card out of his pants pocket and shook her hand. “It’s been a pleasure Darcy! Thanks again for the ride and drive safe!” He shut the door and waved quickly before hustling to his front door and disappearing behind it.

She smiled at his offer and stared at the card he handed her. She was grateful for her impulsive decision to offer Sam a ride home, happy that she seemed to be making the best of her situation and reaching out. She nodded to herself and put the card in her bag, and started to drive back home. 

After she got home, showered and settling in her jammies she got a text from Steve:

_How was your day? You were checked out for most of it. You okay?_

She smiled softly at the text. He would worry. She responded.

_Today was a good day Steve, I’m great : )_

Lately the end of her days left her thinking ‘could have been worse’. Today though, today was certainly a good day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So Thor 2 and Iron Man 3 don't really make it clear what comes first, so I have decided that they happen at the SAME TIME, and that accounts for why Thor wasn't helping out his bud Tony with the Mandarin.
> 
> Soon -- London!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off my sincerest apologies for the delay on this work. Early August my mother (a younger woman at 44) had what we thought was a severe stroke that has resulted in 2 heart surgeries and has been under constant supervision by doctors and family. The cause of her heart issues are still not understood at this time and she has another surgery scheduled right before Christmas. So forgive me on letting the story stall, even now I worry about my mum and find it difficult to write but I am not done the story. I might not be able to put up a chapter every other day like I did before, but I hope no less than once a week. So please be patient, I promise I have not abandoned this work. Thank you for reading and enjoying.

Tony had her worried.

He was all the buzz on the news, apparently running out of a restaurant and having a panic attack after a child asked for his autograph. Not to mention that she had texted him already and hadn’t heard anything yet. Regardless of her new monetary status (which could continue rotting in her bank account), uprooting herself and trying to convince Nick and Maria that she should go to LA and visit Tony wasn’t really a great option.

Fury seemed convinced that if Darcy and Tony were in the same state both would have an increased threat of being harmed. No amount of eye rolling from Darcy convinced him otherwise. Not to mention that when Fury had discovered that Darcy had picked up a ‘hitchhiker’ and spent an entire day solo driving around, her freedoms had been restricted. She could deal with it but there wasn’t much more living room workouts to do that would waste her time and since coming back from the past her lust for TV had drastically dwindled. Other than workouts with Natasha and reading the entire Victorian Romance catalogue that Shield had in the public library section of the Base, Darcy was usually left to her own thoughts and devices as long as they were within the walls of her apartment.

Still, she was here trying to get connected to Tony and found herself drifting farther away from him due to his instability. What was the most frustrating thing about all of this? Even if they weren’t related and trying to develop a more familial bond, Tony and Darcy would have plenty to talk about, both needed therapy from their recent chaotic brushes with death. Tony’s drifting into space was surely catastrophic to his mental health, and Darcy had spent over a year besting up with her own grandfather and getting _The_ Captain America established.

Darcy took a deep breath and released her body from the plank she was doing. Boredom certainly was good for the body. She had managed to ‘score’ a couple of one on one sessions with Natasha, promptly damaging her pride and left with a descriptive set of instructions on how she should be working out during her ‘off time’. Since Jane and Darcy wouldn’t be leaving for London until Jane could get some more information out of the semi-stable Selvig, their travel time was still up in the air.

She had to admit though, the workouts helped with the loneliness. Her visits with Steve had diminished a bit since he was working on real missions for Shield, doing his part for his country.

In the end, Darcy thought to herself, she was just an average woman. There was no need for her in shields books – what they wanted from her they already got, which was the understanding from her that she was no longer listed as a ‘free’ citizen. Instead she would be under constant surveillance for the rest of her life.

She palmed her phone and looked at the time. The days crept by so slowly nowadays. She knew she was being foolish hoping from a message from Tony so recently after his public meltdown.

A sharp knocking at the door startled her and knocked her out of her stupor. It was the knock of a professional, efficient person.

“Lewis!” she heard Maria shout through the door. Instantly eye rolling, sighing and looking up to the ceiling, Darcy could feel a migraine starting and she started towards the door.

“Coming…” she responded through the door, unlocking it and facing the older woman. “Yeeees?” she said dryly.

“You’ve got company, Lewis. I’d change and come down to the foyer immediately.” Hill replied curtly, handing Darcy a card. “That will allow you access to the ground floor. I expect to see you shortly, you’re causing quite a ruckus.” She said her before turning around and stalking down the hallway towards the elevator. 

Hill couldn’t see that behind her Darcy was giving her back a look of confusion. Making a snarky little face at the woman’s back she went back inside her apartment, locking it before quickly jumping in the shower to greet her visitors.

 

Trying to shimmy out of the discomfort of putting on a shirt while she was still a bit wet, Darcy swiped the card in the elevator and pressed the ground floor button, smirking when it lit up green and started to move. Wearing a pair of black tights, black shirt and sweater that had begun to get a little loose on her, Darcy began braiding her damp hair, curious to what awaited her downstairs. 

As soon as the doors opened, an enormous smile broke out on her face as she heard someone, a special someone, yelling at Fury.

“You _CAN’T_ lock her up! That’s cruel and unusual! She needs to be social! How _DARE_ you! What is with SHIELD trying to mess up everyone’s agenda? You guys are nothing more than big bullies!”

There were few things in this world that Darcy wished she had on tape. Watching teeny tiny Jane Foster point her finger at an unimpressed Nicholas J Fury was one of them. Vibrating with anger and red in the face, Darcy hurried towards her friend before she ended up getting arrested.

“Jane!” She cried, opening her arms for a wide hug. Distracted, Jane cried out and smiled at her friend,

“Darcy!” 

The two united, and held each other in a tight hug, laughing at each other’s antics. 

“Jane you can’t just yell at that dude that way, he’s a big deal” Darcy said in her friend’s ear, hearing Jane’s emotions get the best out of her as she whimpered out a soft apology. It had been quite some time since they last were together and Darcy had realized at that exact moment that in a strictly companionable way, she loved Jan. They were clearly soul sisters. 

Whatever angst she was feeling before seeing her good friend in the flesh lifted off her shoulders. The two separated after a long moment, and Darcy met the eye of a very uninterested Fury. Eyebrow raised sharply, he let out a scoff.

“You done?” he asked the two women. “Because I do have better things to do than babysit the two of you before you leave Lewis.”

Darcy frowned in confusion, fully facing Fury. The look on her face said it all.

Taking another sigh, he responded.

“Enjoy London, Lewis.”

Darcy lit up and looked back at Jane. 

 

“It’s happening?! London! Finally? You found Selvig!?” Darcy hammered off, quickly realizing that things would hopefully start getting back to normal once she and Jane began adventuring with Science once again. She heard Fury’s shoes click off in the distance and her heart soared. He wasn’t a bad guy, he was just like an overbearing stepfather or uncle that she left in a constant state of disappointment and was too strict. Damn was he strict. He even once sent a soldier to her apartment when she was binge watching Netflix to tell her to “get to bed already”.

“Too many details Darce! I’m basically ready to go, how long will it take to you to pack?”

A wicked grin from Darcy told Jane _no time at all._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading, sorry it was such a short chapter but London and Jane! Only good things can come :)


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wasn't satisfied by the many fan made theories about what movie came first so I'm making Thor 2 start at the middle/near end of Iron Man 3. Now we know why Thor was too busy to help Tony.

It was easy to fall back into the swing of things. Living in London with Jane, chasing anomalies in the sky and atmosphere, zipping around in a beater car trying to solve the mysteries of the universe – just like it was before Jane hit Thor with her van.

She knew she was still being watched by SHIELD agents, as much as they were ‘secret’ agents, they weren’t very good at keeping a low profile. Honestly, men in suits avoiding Darcy’s eye contact in obvious manners certainly made it easy for her to pick them out of the crowd.

Darcy hadn’t told Jane the greater details of her time travelling stint until after they got off the plane and Jane’s eager vibration paired with skirting around it every 2 seconds finally broke Darcy’s patience. She knew that her experience with the Tessarect and zooming through a pocket of space and time was something that Jane wanted to dissect and learn about, who was Darcy to deny her best friend her simple wishes?

It was odd, however. In the many times that Darcy had repeated her story in the past few months, Jane was certainly the only one scribbling down theoretical equations and asking Darcy the exact percentage and projectile force that Darcy felt like she was emitting at the time of landing. It was almost easier for Darcy to talk about the incident from a purely scientific manner – Jane didn’t know it but she was almost making it fun for Darcy, focusing on the numbers and physical manipulations that she faced from a purely mathematical, fascinating – making it less like a mentally traumatic incident and more like a fun experiment.

Darcy skirted around the subject of Bucky, but Jane’s raised brow and flicker of curiosity in her eyes knew there was more to the story. Thank goodness she knew the younger girl well enough that when Darcy was really ready to talk about her connection with a soldier killed in action she would be the first to hear about it. Jane continued to create plausible theories to why Darcy landed where she did and how exactly she managed to get back when she did.

“Bad luck” wasn’t a suitable answer for Dr. Foster, but _Jane_ knew that Darce had done her best to answer all her questions. It wasn’t what they were in London for, but in her spare time perhaps she could help her understand ‘why’ it happened. And regardless of Darcy feeling like a Normal 20 something or other travelling around the world with a grin on her face, she should have honestly expected something chaotic to interrupt her healing person.

After a couple of joyful weeks in London, Darcy turned the TV on one day to watch her father’s Oceanside villa crumble into the water below in a targeted Mandarin attack.

“What do you _mean_ you don’t know where he is!? You’re Nick-Frikkin-Fury!” she shouted into the telephone. 3 hours after she watched Tony’s house become part of the ocean floor, she was still trying her best to:

A. Get a hold of Tony, and

B. Get someone from SHEILD to get a hold of Tony.

Darcy was beginning to lose her cool. Pepper had no information, Darcy couldn’t pick up anything from Tony’s usual methods of asking for help – his phone was off, his suit was down, Jarvis was in full repair hibernation mode and Nick wasn’t being much help either.

“Look Lewis, Tony asked the Mandarin to do that. I think you’re underestimating the savvy nature of the Stark name.” He replied, obviously exhausted with trying to deal with her. 

She scoffed into his ear, wandering onto the balcony, past Jane who had just woken up through Darcy’s tirade and was currently eating toast, with a part of a napkin, clearly distracted by what was enfolding in front of her. 

“Look Nick….Tony hasn’t been…well. Or himself. At all.” She said, pinching the bridge of her nose with her finger and thumb. “There is more going on here, and us just leaving him to his own devices is nothing short of a terrible idea. He’s one man. One mentally unstable, sleep deprived, neurotic man with dangerous abilities.”

Nick took a deep breath and sighed into the phone. There were a few moments of silence before he spoke again.

“Darcy. There is more going on than you know. And I don’t think you know Tony as well as I do, he’ll be fine, period.”

Darcy recoiled from the comment, insulted by the older man’s assumption that she hadn’t tried her best to get to know the man on a more personal level. She knew that their relationship was prickly, at best, before she came back to the present. But she also knew that the two of them had confided in each other enough that she felt her worried state was justified.

“Oh I’m sorry Nick, I was unaware we were talking about _your_ missing father, only relative of yours left alive. I’ll leave you be then. Thanks for the help, if that’s what you call help these days.” And she angrily smashed her finger into the ‘end call’ button on her touch screen. She walked through the balcony door once more and tossed her phone ono the couch, slamming a closet door. She let out a triumphant ‘hmph’.

“Man sometimes I miss landlines. You just don’t get the satisfying slam when you end a conversation anymore.” Darcy said, more to herself than anything, but had Jane nodding her head in agreement as she fished out from her mouth the pieces of napkin she had eaten by mistake. Jane choked her food down, coughing as she tried to address what had just happened.

“So?”

Darcy rolled her eyes and brought both arms up, quoting “ _There’s more going on than you know”_ with her fingers, “blah blah blah. The usual deflection.” She slumped on the couch next to Jane, rubbing her temples with her fingers. “Why is my life so complicated?” She whined, garnering a chuckle from Jane. The older woman patted her back, grabbed her breakfast remnants and began to clean up the mess rambling about some blind date she was going on that afternoon. Darcy just stared at the TV, still talking about Tony’s threat to Mandarin – the volume was off but the closed captioning was frantically trying to keep up with the newscaster. At this point Darcy wasn’t even reading it, just zoning off with a frown on her face. Her phone began vibrating and she looked at the caller Id.

_intern guy_

She groaned. What a day to start working with this guy…Ian? It was jokingly suggested by Jane that perhaps Darcy needed her own assistant. Since her experience with Stark and the Dr made her more useful as a science ‘doer’, the two of them got drunk and apparently posted a ‘Help Wanted’ ad on the intern group for the local University. This resulted in a lot of calls the next morning, and in a fit of hangover fueled madness, Darcy agreed to the first person who sounded like he was about to cry after she exploded on him about calling at the ‘ungodly hour’ of 1:30 in the afternoon.

If she could make him cry on the phone after 3 words, she could make him do anything. She turned the TV off, called Tony’s cellphone one last time, frustrated that is voicemail had no space left. She texted instead, hoping that eventually she would see the little word saying _Read_.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Darcy’s mental list was stacking up.

First, The Intern wasn’t terrible. He was awkward and cute, and kind of reminded her of herself when she first got into the science game. It kind of made up for the fact that he was virtually useless at getting her coffee right.

Second, Tony was still ghosting her – although a small flash of activity from Jarvis’ internal alert hardware had popped up and Pepper immediately texted her afterwards. Pepper also mentioned a name, Aldrick Killian, with a ‘just in case I go missing lol jk but seriously’ text. Apparently he had a thing for Pep in the past – they didn’t focus too much on him, and simply laughed it off. She was glad that the two of them could connect, but did wish it wasn’t over the looming possibility that Tony was probably in more trouble than they could imagine. 

_Thirdly_ , Jane got all the luck with men. First Thor, God from Asgard coming down and wooing the crap out of her, and now whoever the hunk was at the lunch that she ripped the woman from. For a woman with no time for anything but science, numbers and theoretical gravitational physics, Jane was certainly great at getting the attention of handsome gentleman.

And finally? Jane was missing and Darcy was starting to find it quite difficult to breathe. The Intern was trying his best to figure out whatever time pocket he lost the car keys in while she ran through empty hallways and decrepit rooms searching for her friend. Her cries for Jane echoed down the corridor, nothing answering her but her own scared voice bouncing off the walls. Jane wasn’t picking up her phone, the rain had started and she was stranded in an industrial park in London with no one to assist her, save for an overeager moron who lost her keys.

Out of breath from running up and down the staircases, Darcy leaned up against a wall and slid down, sitting with her forehead on her knees and her arms wrapped around her legs. She was doing her best to calm down, but it was hard. 

If Jane managed to find a time pocket or something similar like she did, where would Jane end up? Darcy considered herself lucky to get found by allies in the war, but what if Jane travelled to Egypt? Or Mars! Feeling a panic attack starting, Darcy dialed the authorities and explained the situation of the missing woman. With the promise of a prompt arrival, Darcy let a couple tears fall as she thought about all the terrible situations that Jane might have possibly ended up in. She knew that for everyone else, she was only gone for a few days when she travelled through time, but her journey lasted a few years. 

What if Jane returned an old woman? 

What if Jane didn’t return at all?

“THOR, YOU ASSHOLE!” She screamed out to the wall opposite her. “THIS IS YOUR FAULT!” Letting out and aggravated scream, Darcy let herself fall down to the floor and laid down until she heard the sirens below.

\--------------------

So the intern was _terrible_ under pressure. Noted. Once the police came, threatening them with the potential of being charged with criminal mischief, Darcy was pretty frustrated they were focusing their attention to the people that _were_ there and not the person that _wasn’t_ there. 

“Name, Miss?” The stout police man asked her, getting ready to pen her name down on his notepad. 

“Darcy. Darcy Lewis. ” She sighed out, rolling her eyes when she saw that her pathetic intern was having difficulty stuttering out his name to the other police man. She gave the policeman her ID and London Visa and watched him wander over to his car while she stood there, getting rained on.

“Hey shouldn’t you be looking for my friend? She’s actually missing. Possibly in danger…” Darcy shouted before getting a harsh ‘shh’ from the officer dealing with Intern Ian. If possible, she rolled her eyes even harder and waited for the police man to return. He shot out of the car, stared at her with a rather ghostly look on his face and she gave him a confused look. He used his internal radio and jogged over to his partner, whispering something in his ear. The other officer paled as well and quickly let out a couple of apologies. The officer that was dealing with Darcy walked over to her sheepishly, giving back her ID.

“Uh…scuze us Miss Lewis, we had no idea that you were conducting official research on this location – my apologies. I’ve called for some reinforcements, we’ll find your friend right away”

The officer hauled ass back to his car and Darcy was left staring at him in disbelief holding her cards. Hey, she wasn’t about to complain about the slap on the wrist for technically trespassing, but she was still confused. Her phone buzzed immediately. Checking it, there was a text from Maria Hill.

 

_;)_

 

Well alright then. She smiled to herself and looked up at the Intern. His look of confusion reminded her of a lost little puppy.

“It pays to know the big guys, Intern.” And she flashed him a big smile before turning around and heading back towards the building to continue their search for Jane. He smiled back but then frowned, running to keep up with her and yelling “My name’s Ian!"

 

It had been hours. The pinching feeling in her gut had not faded, and now there were about 20 police cars and 40 men all working the grounds to find out where Jane went. As far as everyone was concerned, Jane had simply disappeared off the face of the planet. Twice the Intern had found her throwing up from her nerves.

Darcy couldn’t help but think that everyone she cared about was starting to disappear. 

Suddenly a huge crack of thunder formed through the sky in an epic manner in a familiar fashion. She ran down the stairs taking two or three steps at a time to see if she would be graced with a familiar face.  
She nearly knocked over two police men wearing rain slickers of a bright yellow and reflective material, half apologizing for her error before running around the open space looking around.

Instead of Thor, however, she saw Jane standing very still at the end of a corridor between two buildings. She did a double take before shouting her name. Jane seemed to struggle to turn around and realize where she was. As Darcy got closer to her it was clear that Jane wasn’t entirely lucid. Her eyes were glassy and distant, and as Darcy grabbed the woman’s arm it seemed to pull her right out of the trance she was in.

Jane spoke immediately, “Darcy! You’ll never guess-“

“Where the _hell_ where you!? Where did you go? Are you alright?” Darcy interrupted, not giving the other woman a chance to ramble about something sciencey and amazing.

Jane was confused. Darcy attempted to explain to Jane how long the woman had been gone, thanking her for not dying in whatever alternative plane or universe she wandered into, only to realize that was open mouth staring at whatever was behind her.

Darcy followed her gaze, only to roll her eyes and slowly close the distance between Jane, who had started running towards their new guest Thor.

\--------------------

So again…it was the Intern and Darcy.

Not having the keys for the car, they had been dropped off at the apartment by the police and Darcy told Ian to crash in the spare room, leaving her alone in the living room. 

Jane, not-usually flighty Jane, had gone off to Asgard with Thor. On a whim. Maybe not, Thor didn’t stick around long enough to really give her the details. Instead, she had to deal with the Police about the God’s arrival and abrupt leaving and convince them to mind well enough alone. 

Dealing with the police was one thing. Dealing with the Fury? Not so easy. He had managed to bypass all her panicky methods of avoiding his inevitable speech laced with disappointment for not making Thor stick around a bit longer and call her from the intern’s phone. So on the way home, she had received an earful from one of the scariest men on earth and had the young man working with her seriously double think his involvement with his internship. 

Obviously something more was happening here than she knew about. With the craziness of her experience and now Jane being whisked away – and obviously for something more than just a fancy date. She knew Thor wasn’t romantic, and the look of concern he held for Jane before taking her away was mildly alarming _but_ she knew Jane would be in good hands. She was simply relieved to know that Jane managed to find her way back to her, albeit briefly. 

She scanned through the contacts on her phone, vainly pressing Tony’s name and waiting for it to go straight to voicemail. She flopped her head on the arm of the couch as she laid down and waited for the call to go though. 

But instead of going straight to voicemail it rang.

And instead of hearing a recording, she heard:

“What’s up kiddo?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter, but I need to skip most of the Asgard adventure of Thor2 since it's a Jane/Thor/Loki movie.
> 
> Happy news: Mum has been quite well. I appreciate all of your kind words and well wishes. It has certainly helped me get through it a bit. Thank you.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess how much I want to rewrite Thor 2? 0%. I want Bucky/Darcy again, so I veto'd Thor 2. Not a whole lot of opportunity to blend films either, since Thor's big big changes were happening off world and the Earth action was minimal.

“You’re a sonova bitch, you know that?” She said, grinding her teeth. How dare he answer the phone like he had done nothing wrong. She heard Tony’s exhausted laugh on the other end of the phone and he attempted to continue, but Darcy wouldn’t allow it.

“I’m sitting here, in London with the biggest science nerd alive looking for physical proof of environmental manipulation and you’re gallivanting around _god knows where_ , encouraging terrorists to blow your and your house up, not replying to my texts or calls and answer me with a _‘what’s up kiddo?!_ What is _wrong_ with you!?” She was reaching harpy level screeching at this point, well aware that Tony probably had the phone at arm’s length. She could hear a grumblier laugh in Tony’s background and chose to pace around the living room continuing her lecture.

“You know what I hope that’s Fury and he gives you shit for all the crap you’ve pulled lately. Do you not understand how much of an asshole you’ve been? Answer: a huge one. The biggest one. Even Sir Mix-a-lot would be unable to write a song about what a huge ass you‘ve been.” Her voice finally cracked from her dry throat and she let the silence sit for a bit until Tony finally spoke up.  
“I’m sorry.” He said, with a sincere hint of remorse.

She sat back down on the couch, removed her glasses and pinched her nose, trying to stop from breaking out in tears. The weight she didn’t know she was carrying on her shoulders had lifted and all the stress and pent up nerves released. The relief was welcome at this point, even though it was leading so some serious crying after this phone call.

“It’s been…complicated” Tony continued gently, coaxing her into conversation. “And let’s just say I’m selfish, because obviously I didn’t want to share the grand experience I just had.” 

That made her crack a small smile, grateful that even though he did sound tired, beat up, and was probably lying down somewhere - he did understand how important to her he was becoming. After the hundreds of calls she had left on his voicemail and texts filling his inbox she was certain he finally understood how she felt.

“Yea, yea, we all know you’re selfish.” She replied softly. “I’m glad you’re safe though, you’re going to have to tell me all about it one day.”

Tony groaned, “I really don’t want to relive it and honestly it’s not that great of a story. Ex-girlfriends, human fire bombs, army of Iron Suits – fake terrorists and saving the president, honestly not that exciting. I’m sure that you’re having a much better time being a science nerd in London.”

She broke out into a full blown grin and released a full bellied laugh. She could swear Tony broke out onto a similar signature Stark smile. 

“Well actually dude…” She started, spending the next half hour simply catching up with Tony before finally crashing on the couch, settling into a comforting sleep once Tony ended the call with a “Stay safe kiddo.”

_____________________________________

Weeks later in the DC airport, Darcy only wished that she was lucky enough to follow his instructions.

Thor, _more_ aliens, crazy Selvig and a lot of inappropriate flirting from her intern later, Darcy had managed to escape a painful and disastrous death at the hands of intergalactic invaders. Again.

This time there was no time travel though. And thankfully Jane was the one getting sucked through worm holes in space, not her. The dust had finally settled when Thor and their little space brigade managed to save the world (again), close the space holes and settle down in their living room trying to understand the situation at hand while the world merely reported on the awesomeness of Thor and his heroic concern for the planet.

Darcy had harrumphed when weeks later Thor had stunned the small crew by landing on the back porch and romantically sweeping Jane off her feet. Though sweet, it still panged at Darcy’s heartstrings since A.) The only person showing interest in her lately was a pathetic intern who didn’t know how to make an effective move and B.) She seemed to be easily replaced. 

Without focusing too much on the latter, Darcy had gratefully accepted when Tony offered her a trip home via Private Jet a few days later so she could get back to shield headquarters. Turns out Tony and Bruce went on some science adventure in South America for an extended vacation, so he wouldn’t be needing it. Tony had admitted his PTSD to her and Pepper, and agreed that a well-deserved break from both his suits and society was warranted. He still had yet to go into complete detail of his connection with the Mandarin and what had really happened – but she was mostly glad he was okay. She didn’t need to focus on the what-may, she had learned that she needed to focus on the ‘now’.

And _now_ , she was waiting for her damn SHEILD appointed courier to bring her to the giant stupid HQ so she could authorize the movement of Howard Starks items in Storage to what would be the new location. Since she had first uncovered the little treasure trove of junk, she needed to finish her tidying up before moving on away from SHEILD. Fury also needed to ‘discuss’ some pertinent issues with her, and she knew it would have something to do with the newest infinity stone that had found a way to get within close proximity of her person.

Somehow she knew that “Lewis Luck” wouldn’t be accepted as an excuse. She also knew that she was not going to enjoy her first couple of Days back in DC. Darcy went through the automatic doors of the airport when she saw a shiny black car with a matte SHIELD logo on the side. Pulling her suitcase behind her she headed for the car with gumption, knocking on the trunk with her fist and throwing her suitcase in the back when the driver popped the trunk. She went over to the passenger window and peeked in, seeing Natasha in the front seat. A slightly bruised, heavily frowning Natasha didn’t even look at Darcy, simply pressing the unlock button for the doors. 

Darcy got in and noticed immediately that the center console and screen that usually aided with GPS navigation or music selection had been ripped out and was in the foot well of Darcy’s seat. Frowning she buckled in and attempted to ask Natasha what was going on when she cut her off and informed the younger woman exactly what was happening.

“Fury is dead, SHIELD is compromised and Rogers is a fugitive. I need you to shut up, listen and stay calm.”

“OH for fuck sake” Darcy groaned, leaning her head back into her seat, closing her eyes. She was super jealous that Tony had already left the country because right now she really needed to simply get away. 

“Darcy I’m serious. I need you to listen. Immediately after Fury died any protection you expected ended. In fact, given by what just happened in London I think you’re going to be a target of concern for them due both to your uncanny ability to find these space stones and because you’re friends with Thor. I need you to understand that this is a huge deal. There is a serious breach of information and Hydra is behind it.”

Darcy simply stared ahead, taking in all that Natasha had to say. For one, shit luck wins again, her frustrating encounters of the third kind stacking the odds against her. Now she was a target.

A target of an organization that she once fought 70 years ago Earth time. She didn’t want to tell Natasha that she was probably always on the Hydra hit list – and with her recent revival in the modern world and SHIELD's apparent shitty ability to be a secure government operation, she was probably one of the uppers on the list. Shit. And the last person who had texted her was Fury. So they would know by now that she was actively engaged in conversation from their last hit. Natasha continued.

“Did Fury give you any information in the last couple days?” Darcy shook her head, thinking hard about their brief conversations over the last week, looking for anything that seemed odd when a look of confusion set over her.

“Wait, Tash – Nick said we should go to Jersey. Said he wanted the classic Jersey experience” She told the woman who was currently doing a terrible job of laying low by driving around like a maniac in what Darcy assumed was now listed as a stolen vehicle. 

Natasha shot her a raised eyebrow and rolled her eyes. 

“No, no, I’m serious! A.) Fury doesn’t want to spend time with me in the same building – why would he suggest that we travel to Jersey? And B.) What the fuck is the ‘classic Jersey experience’? Jersey was terrible.” Darcy was grasping at straws trying to figure out why he would think they should go there. What the hell was in Jersey?

“What’s in Jersey, Darcy?” Natasha asked, blowing through a red light. She was going so fast it was hard to keep track of where they were. 

_What’s in Jersey, what’s in Jersey._ Her mind was racing. What the _hell_ was in Jersey. Why was it so important?

Oh. OH!

“Oh, oh, oh!” Darcy started, her entire face lighting up and her hands shaking, body pulsing, “Jersey! _Jersey!_ ” She was excited now. Natasha shot her a look that made her finish her thought.

“Tash, Jersey was where we made Captain America! Hydra infiltrated that operation and killed the Doctor – and Howard’s Dead too! And if I’m on the list – that might be why! Nick knows that there must be something in that facility! Whatever he wanted to do in Jersey _must_ have had something to do with the bunker!” Darcy’s palms were sweating with excitement. Or fear, she hadn’t decided yet.

Natasha slipped into the last gear and crushed her foot on the gas.

“That’s my girl” She said, giving her a small smile as they soared down the highway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also my mum is doing great! She had a secondary surgery and they found the other hole near her heart - things are great! She's like a whole new woman with a cauterized heart, she seems to be back to normal :) And!! I'm getting Married! So I'm quite grateful for all your well wishes again, because it's great to finally be able to come back and write when there is time without the worrisome thoughts like "I'm not a good daughter for not being around all her the time".
> 
> Thanks again! Now that I'm actually at a part of the MCU I like (i.e. Not Thor), writing should come easily :)


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Delay again, I'm sorry! I promise after April 1st I'll be a real human again because I won't be planning a wedding.
> 
> I already started the next one because iiiiiif you've watched the movies we all know what's coming!

Darcy had a lot of other, more interesting plans in order for her when she made it back to America. Maybe brunch at that café she liked with that buttery Danish, or the big library on 4th Ave with the huge section on historical architecture – not something that she was actually interested In but certainly more innocent and _safe_ than what was happening to her right now.

Right now she was squished in between Natasha and Plain clothes Captain America – complete with the All-American baseball cap upon his head. And currently, they were driving in the general direction of New Jersey without a set plan laid out for them. Darcy knew better than to interrupt a pensive Natasha and driver-Cap, who somewhere along the line learned how to hot-wire a truck, with her nonsensical quips and theories to Nick’s cryptic message and whatever was left on the portable hard drive he entrusted to the two other passengers In the car.

The silence was driving Darce nuts though. She didn’t even have her phone on her because once Natasha had ditched the stolen shield mobile and the two hauled ass to Steve’s apartment to pack and go – Nat had…for lack of a better word, ‘deactivated’ her cell and laptop since they were SHIELD property and therefore a liability to their ‘stay underground’ lifestyle she had been conscripted into. So instead, there she was, uncomfortably seated between two super soldiers in a crappy no-middle-seatbelt truck, bumbling along the back roads to god knows where. Steve was either lost or depending heavily on dumb luck to get them wherever he was headed since Natasha had ceased giving him directions.

Nat, still with her elbow on the windowsill, chin in her hands, was quietly making sounds of affirmation in her corner. Darcy let out a large groan and leaned her head back sharply, and smacking her head on the back of the cab. 

“Oww” she said quietly, rubbing her head. She saw Steve let out a small smirk and lightly punched him in the right arm. He feigned injury with his eyes still on the road.

“Darcy!” he said, feigning annoyance, “I’m _driving_.” He gave her a light shove, making her bump shoulders with Natasha, who had woken from her thoughtful staring.

She smirked back at him and jammed her knuckle into one of his ribs in retaliation, letting out a sharp giggle when Steve yelped and buckled his side making the truck jerk to the right for a quick moment.

“I give, I give!” he said, left hand rubbing where her knuckle jammed itself into, “truce. Sorry Darce. I know you didn’t sign up for this...” he trailed off, glancing at Natasha. Darcy gave a nonchalant shrug, knowing that her annoyance of the situation was obvious. She tried to scoff out an ‘I’m fine’ but Steve, the chatty Cathy, wouldn’t shut up.

“But we’re dealing with something huge here. Fury is dead, Shield has fallen – Tash? Spooky ghost man?” Steve looked over at the older woman and the redhead had finally made eye contact with her.

“Darcy, this is serious. Hydra is not something that we can just walk in on and say a few quirky lines to distract them and win the All-American way that you and Steve did in the past. This Hydra is fully equipped with well-trained men. They are stocked with the best technology and they _know_ what will make you second guess your actions. They have all your Intel, know your weak spots and family history – they will get you.” Natasha finished, still staring at Darcy.

Darcy tried to break her eye contact with the woman but Natasha was, for no other word, scary. Darcy had yet to see the woman so stern and serious before. While she took her position seriously at all times she usually would flash a quick smirk or an eye roll in-between a heroic speech or at least finish with a silly comment. But not this time. Instead Darcy noticed that Natasha’s knuckles had turned white from gripping the armrest on the door, fingers digging into the soft, damaged leather in the old truck. 

“Jesus Nat,” Darcy sputtered out, unable to come up with any other remark.

“She’s serious Darce, remember that Hydra base where they kept Bucky?— ” Steve was cut off by the sound of breaking plastic. Natasha had cracked the armrest clean off. She lamely tried to reattach it to the door before throwing it into the foot well, acknowledging the 2 occupants with a shrug and what looked to be an attempt to offer a non-committal face. Both Darcy and Steve gave the woman a strange look before Steve made another left turn onto a wilder looking road. Darcy looked around at the environment, finally cluing into their location. 

“Are we close? Did your guys’ map finally get us there?!” She said, easily more excited than she was a couple minutes ago. There was a short stint the three had in Jersey, Darcy idling in the truck while the other two performed what she had dubbed the ‘Super-Secret Makeout Mission’ since they hopped into the truck out of breath and with one Captain America rocking smeared lipstick on his face. While she ripped out of the parking lot before the two could explain Darcy had been cackling with laughter before Steve had enough pouting to kick her out of the driver’s seat 10 minutes later. She did remember that after her giggle fit Natasha had managed to decode the little USB stick for coordinates – Coordinates that rang a bell for Steve and Darce.

Natasha looked at her Hydra free device and nodded, pointing a direction for Steve, which he blindly followed, thick branches swiping the truck, leaves making that god awful ‘this is terrible for the paint job’ sound before he stopped at a clearing. In front of the Trio was a collection of large domed buildings, most in a state of disrepair – save one. Natasha had already pointed out the obvious choice of building they needed to enter before Darcy had even figured out what she was looking at.

The three excited the truck but Darcy was quickly stopped by a sharp feminine hand hitting her in the sternum hard enough for her to bark out a loud yelp of a “Hey!”

“Darcy, we don’t know what to expect here and you’re technically still a civilian with special permissions. We need someone to stay out here with –"

“the truck, I know, I know” she said, closing her eyes and raising both hands in surrender. “I get it. This part is for super people and –“ Steve attempted to interject.

“Darcy, you are a super person—“ 

“Thanks champ, but I literally mean _Super_ people. As in…not a chick from Pennsylvania and a Poli Sci degree.” 

Steve blushed and put a hand to the back of his head to rub his hair sheepishly. 

“Oh. Right.”

Darcy grinned at her friends attempt to protect her dignity.

“Do I at least get a weapon or something? Civilian or not, I need some kinda protection and I don’t care if it comes from a .38” 

She let out a sweet ‘hell yes’ when Natasha removed a Colt from her ankle holster and passed it to the young woman. She knew better than to over involve herself. She was still trying to keep both feet alive and well on the ground after her London escapade. She watched as the two entered the most well-preserved building and climbed onto the hood of the truck, both feet pressing onto the bumper for stability while she waited for her friends to return. 

But after what seemed like 5 minutes the earth below shook wildly and the building she was staring at collapsed within itself, smoke and fire billowing out of the seams like a large bomb had gone off. 

“ _Shit!_ ” she cursed, hopping off the truck and running towards the building before backing off from the heat flash it let out. Right arm up she protected her face and eyes from the light and heat of the building going down in front of her, gun cocked and ready for firing in her other hand, she waited for a split second before realizing how stupid it would be to abandon the only way out of here semi-safely. She popped the hood of the truck at rapid speed and used the penlight from the glove box to disconnect the automatic lights that turned on when you started the truck so she could drive in complete darkness should she need to bolt. In the distance she could hear a lot of air activity and squinted through some of the trees, noticing a large series of lights heading in her direction.

She got in the truck, started it and waited. Promising her friends at least 3 minutes, even though the people in the air would be there in less than 2. Her hands gripped the steering wheel as she fought back the tears before letting out a shaky breath of relief when she spotted Steve carrying Natasha out of the rubble. She hit the horn once, for barely a second of sound and he whipped his head over to her direction. He sprinted with the woman in his arms and the two slid onto the bench, Darcy burning rubber backwards before the door was shut properly in a vain attempt to get out of the reach of hydra. As Darcy whipped around, Steve clutching onto a more than slightly out of it Natasha, and looked into the rearview mirror to see Shield airships landing among the rubble and chaos her friends were caught in. 

Foot to the floor in the pitch black Darcy drove.


	11. Chapter 11

The ride was silent as they drove; Darcy at the wheel. Neither Natasha nor Steve had said a word and they still smelled of smoke and rubble, resulting in her rolling down the window slightly to ease the smell. They had been through the ringer, from what she saw – Nat’s hair knotted and dusty from the fresh blast, Steve’s face showing signs of minor cuts that had long healed but left the blood behind. She was driving on instinct, initially unsure of who to go to but memory coming forward and leading the way. The drive would only take a few hours, and she certainly wasn’t looking for attention, keeping to backroads and speed limits while the group sat solemnly.

 

Pulling into the familiar neighborhood shortly after the first crack of dawn, Darcy slowed down to stare at streets as she passed hoping she could figure out the exact spot she was aiming for. Passing the street, she pulled into a park a couple of blocks away from her destination before parking the truck and waking the two soldiers sleeping on one another.

 

“Hey guys, sorry for the wake-up call, but we gotta walk from here.” She said softly while shoving Nat’s shoulder to wake them. Natasha’s eyes opened immediately and she tensed up before remembered the situation and patted her hand on Steve’s face until he woke from his slumber. Darcy couldn’t help but smirk – initially she thought the two may have some romantic feelings between them but the more she thought of them the more she thought they were like siblings. Poking fun at one another and having a sort of common, well placed intimacy, without being overly sexual.

The two followed their wakeup with yawns, groans and bone cracking, Nat checking the environment with a frown. Steve got out of the truck to walk a few paces before looking around with a look of confusion.

“Where are we?” Steve asked, looking back at Darcy.

“We’re going to a friend’s house. I’m not entirely sure he’ll be thrilled to see either of us but he’s a good guy and probably one of the only people I’d trust right now. Don’t know why, it’s more of a gut feeling.” Darcy said, not wanting to give any names or details by the truck – who knew. Maybe Hydra could still hear. She was turning into a neurotic mess, worried for both herself and her friends. The trio pulled their stuff from the truck and Darcy led the way down the street, all three avoiding eye contact with one another and the locals. Nat walked on the other side more than a few steps behind to avoid suspicion, even stopping to read a missing cat poster on a light post when finally Darcy stopped in front of a familiar house. She went around to the back with Nat catching up with them and Darce knocked on the back sliding door, waiting.

The Blinds went up and Sam found her eyes first before taking in the other two, Darcy could see the recognition flash over Steve’s face through her peripherals. Opening the door with a hello, Steve was the first to speak of the three.

“I’m sorry about this, but we need a place to lay low.”

“Everyone we know is trying to kill us” Nat followed, with a desperate look from Darcy.

Sam Wilson opened the door with a “Not everyone” and let the three enter his home, with Darcy requesting a nap and hitting the couch immediately and passing out.

————- 

Waking from a nap that could have easily lasted an entire day, she could smell fresh coffee and her stomach growled. She peeked an eye open, noticing that someone had placed a light blanket on her and coffee was on the side table to her right. She looked up at movement in the Kitchen, Sam flashing her a bright smile while washing his hands.

“Hey sleeping beauty, have a nice power nap?” he said, wiping his hands on a towel.

“Nnngh.” She groaned, taking her gift of coffee and gulping down nearly half a cup in a moment. Steve and Nat joined Sam in the kitchen, both looking like a millions bucks with a fresh shower and shave. Damn them, she thought. She knew she looked a mess.

She gave them all a weak grin.

“Why does it look like we’re going out? Are we going out? Let the answer be ‘not for another half hour so you can shower’ please”. She rubbed the brief sleep out of her eyes.

“You have 15.” Nat said firmly.

Darcy put her head in her hands for about 3 seconds before getting up and accepting the towel Steve threw at her, shaking her head with light cursing on the way to the bathroom.

“Hurry up, you’re driving!” Steve shouted.

————-

And so she was.

Their target was Jasper Sitwell, and she wasn’t surprised that he was a Hydra agent. That bastard had been a part of the original “Steal Darcy’s IPod” team. Brief rundown from Natasha was that he was Level 7 Shield and a massive asset to Hydra. She was in the Car because Sitwell would recognize her long before Natasha or Steve in a public setting, what with his heavy involvement in Both Thor cases the fact that they once, though briefly, interacted. Sam, the lucky bastard, was still an unknown and free to leave the 4 doored prison while Darcy simply hoped that no one would look too hard in her direction while she sat wide eyed waiting for instruction.

A knock on the window nearly made her shit herself and she jerked her head over to stare at Sam’s face.

“Get out, I’m driving.”

Listening, she stepped out of the car and met Steve and Nat’s eye before settling on the man in the middle. The look of surprise from him was almost worth her never finishing the coffee back at Sam’s house and the near arrest back in New Mexico when she went borderline harpy on his team for the confiscation of their research years before. A few seconds later and Jasper and the two women were squishing into the backseat, Jasper in the middle with the women on either side.

Darcy zoned in and out of the arguments the other four were having, Sam leading them towards the Triskelion. Jasper was answering some loaded questions regarding something called “Project Insight”, which apparently, Darcy was not on. Her father, best friend and a few other acquaintances had the pleasure, but Sitwell said that she was a on a particularly exclusive list due to her direct involvement in the Red Skulls death and ‘ability’ to time travel. She had rolled her eyes and leaned back after that, trying to get in a meditative state before they arrived to their destination.

Soon they were driving over an overpass before Darcy heard a loud thunk from the roof of the car, interrupting Jasper’s remarks about Steve’s plan to use him as a DNA shield to access the Heli Carriers. Immediately after, the three in the back looked up and a silver arm shot through the window scattering glass all over Darcy. Before she could attempt to shield herself from it, the arm reached past her and grabbed the shoulder of Sitwell’s suit, pulling him out of the car and throwing him into the opposite lane over the median, killing him instantly.

Darcy barely had time to register the minor cuts she had on her face before they were all getting shot at through the roof, and she lifted her knees up placing her feet on the edge of the seat trying to burrow herself into the door, while Natasha jumped into the front seat, the foursome somehow avoiding the bullets.

Sam slammed on the breaks, propelling whatever was on the roof of the car into the street in front of them. Darcy poked her head through the two front seats, seatbelt removed, to witness a Man stand to his full height after stopping his momentum with his left hand. Darcy had no time to ask “Who’s that?” before the car was rear ended, lurching her body into the driver’s seat, instantly giving her whiplash as her head knocked forward.

She blacked out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for he delay guys. Life seems to be back in action and thank you so much for reading still and commenting how much you liked the sort, it really helped me get my head back in the game. 
> 
> Xoxo


	12. Chapter 12

When her eyes opened she didn’t know where to look first. Head throbbing, body stiff and vision blurred from having lost her glasses from the impact, she groaned. Squinting, she tried to gather her bearings. She was lying on her side between the median and a minivan. Her right leg was badly wounded from road rash though she hadn’t been bleeding for long. She didn’t know where the others were but judging from the gunshots she heard, they were hopefully still alive. She groped around her jacket, searching for the spare set of contacts she always had on hand.

She tried to wipe the dirt and blood from her hand to get them as clean as she could before rapidly putting a contact in each eye. The air, throbbing headache, and rushed placement of the contact caused her eyes to water right away. She cursed at herself for her idiocy but was thankful that with each fretting blink they seemed to get into the proper position and clear her watery vision. The world seemed to stop spinning and the urgency of her situation caused her to repress the pain she felt in her leg and neck, attempting to stand up by bracing herself with her left hand against the side of the van. Thankful for once for her height, as her figure did not raise her head above the top of the vehicle.

The chaos that was rapid gunfire appeared to be only 30 feet away from her, Hydra agents perched over the median protecting cars from the edge of the overpass, firing down. She saw the first of her team, Sam, hiding behind another car that had come to a stop against the barrier in the next lane but a bit closer to the enemy agents. He was perched down, surveying the area with a knife in his left hand, eyes and head following the action both on their level and down below. He must have noticed her movement because the sense of relief that flashed over his face made her reply with a weak smile. She raised her right hand in a gesture that was meant to assure him she was fine but the wince she made had him flinch. He did a few wild gestures with his hands attempting to explain what he was about to do and Darcy could do nothing more than give a blank stare.

On a good day she wouldn’t be able to decipher the army hand signals he gave, never mind a concussed blurry eyed Darcy he had the pleasure of dealing with right now. He seemed to understand and whispered loudly to her,

“Follow my lead on my signal, keep a distance and stay down.”

She nodded in response and he rose up from his crouch, sneaking his way between the stopped cars with graceful care as a maniac jumped over the barrier and a few other Hydra agents began to propel down ropes to join him.   
The sun hurt her head but she did her best to follow Sam, limping behind him to follow his lead as instructed by keeping at least a cars length between them. Her body was resistant to the movement, and she propped herself against a sedan knowing full well she wouldn’t be able to follow Sam into the fight as he came behind the last agent to jump over and disarmed him before throwing him over the edge. Darcy looked away, tears coming up to burn her eyes again. She was more scared than ever before. She’d take London over this any day. She could rationalize aliens being evil and wanting to kill humans but she’d never get over humans killing humans. 

A now armed Sam fired down below and he shouted something to someone below, probably Steve or Nat, but hopefully both before yelling her name. She stood up from her position and he met her eyes before gesturing his head towards a handgun on the street about 15 feet away from him, obviously intending for her to grab it. Hoping he meant for her to grab it as protection and less for offensive tactics because she just wasn’t feeling like a “shooting people” kind of person at the moment. She grabbed the pistol and made sure it was loaded and settled on the street with her back to the median. She steadied her breath and a moment to calm down before finally looking over the edge to access the situation down below. 

Steve was taking down hostiles as Cop cars flew on scene. Sam ran over to her, she hadn’t even noticed that he ran back to his destroyed car to grab his wings.

“Darce we gotta get down there, but you need to stay low. Take that,” he motioned to the gun in her hands, “and fire at anyone who approaches. Period. You heard Sitwell.” She blanched, suddenly remembering what he had told her shortly before he died. She was a massive target. Nausea rose up and she choked back bile, fear causing her panic more than anything. This was the present, this wasn’t the past where she had a vague idea of what was coming next. This was all brand new and she wouldn’t be able to help any of her friends this time around. 

She was untrained, lacked skill and suffering from a head injury. She was just going to bring them all down. Tears rose back up and she coughed back what was supposed to be a sob before allowing Sam to take her in his arms and glide over the barrier behind a few cars a fair distance away from the fight that had taken itself down the street. 

Sam’s suit was hard and the embrace was not calming or comfortable. His feet touched the ground and he returned her to the feet and she had a burst of adrenaline hit her. She was now on the level battle ground, a target from a hostile operative and well within reach if she didn’t play her next moves wisely. She looked down the street, the shade from the tall buildings making it easier for her to gauge the danger. She managed to get a few cars away from Steve, using one as a shield by ducking down a bit and watching the fight through the windows of the car.

“Shit,” she muttered, as the figure from the car had managed to take the shield away. He was the same maniac who jumped over the edge. Steve look surprised, almost awestruck that the man was able to disarm him but he recovered and the two engaged in some heavy handed combat. She was unsure who the dominant fighter, the figure matching each of Steve’s blows with comparable hits. It was clear he was a comparable type of ‘super solider’. She was creeping closer towards the two, still unable to locate Natasha. She wasn’t entirely surprised however, as Natasha was well known for staying low and unseen until she decided otherwise. 

Steve had smashed the man into a large van before taking him to the ground but he recovered quickly and grabbed Steve’s throat. She lost herself in the battle, the man’s modified arm combined with his fighting style impressing her. He give the impression that he would be able to take Natasha in hand-to-hand combat. His fighting style was calculated, nearly choreographed, but there was something familiar about his gait and structure. She was running through all the soldiers she had met in Shield, wondering which one was this super soldier. With the mask covering most of his face it was hard to say, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that they had met somewhere before. 

The man had long hair, which was against the male soldier requirements, and he was decked out in some thick Kevlar leather armor that clearly aided him against Steve, who was wearing a simple T-Shirt. The left arm of the man was clearly advanced technology. There was no way it was a simple sleeve or piece of armor like her father’s suits. This man had clearly replaced a lost limb with some impressive Hydra tech, and it was made with something that could withstand the impact of a shield made of Vibranium. She couldn’t remember an agent with one arm but the idea that Hydra, or even Shield, might’ve created a covert prosthetic wasn’t unreasonable theory.

Steve got in a great hit in with his shield by jamming it into the man’s arm and managed to propel him over his shoulder by a few feet. The man’s mask came loose in the process and hit the concrete between the two men. The action had resulted in the fight getting a bit closer to the car she was hiding behind. She made an attempt to get out of the way my readying her weapon, walking backwards to get herself behind Steve, who was waiting for the man to get up before advancing. He may be a noble warrior but she was beginning to think she might be the type of woman that would shoot a man while he was down. 

Well, maybe if it was any other man. 

Both Steve and Darcy looked dumbfounded as the face came into view. 

“Bucky?” the two said in unison. 

“Who the hell is Bucky?” he replied, taking aim at the two with his pistol.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I figured after such a long hiatus everyone deserved a chapter back to back. Also what a dick move on my part ending that last chapter without the meetup of the three. 
> 
> I'm so jazzed to be writing again.


	13. Chapter 13

If Steve hadn’t said his name at the same time Darcy might’ve thought she was hallucinating. There was James Buchannan Barnes, in the flesh, aiming at them with blank determination across his face. Darcy was at a loss for words, her brain working at such high speed that a calm silence came over her. Mouth dry and feeling faint she tried to call out to him to put the gun down but Sam intervened first, knocking Bucky down. Steve was in a full stupor, not moving – just focused on their friend. 

Bucky got up to his feet immediately but hesitated for a moment before pointing it directly at Steve’s face and shot. Darcy snapped from her haze and screamed out loud when she heard him pull the trigger. It took a second for her to realize that it was Natasha who had fired a rocket launcher from behind Steve, causing Bucky to jump out of the way and a parked truck to take the hit and explode from the impact. Darcy turned towards Bucky’s direction, her vision impeded from the smoke before looking back over to Natasha. She noticed that her shoulder was bleeding heavily and she was struggling to stand without the support of the van on her right. She looked tired and worn. Bucky was gone, Natasha was bleeding, Steve was dumbstruck. She was bleeding and fighting unconsciousness since her adrenaline rush had faded and everything that hit her body within the last half hour had caught up to her. 

Then all at once it became obvious they were fucked. Multiple black armored cars came into view and surrounded them, their occupants armed and rushing towards the three of them. She had no idea where Sam was but could only assume that he was in a similar predicament. Hydra obviously was organized because they had replaced their fallen soldiers tenfold and every one of them had a gun pointed to the group, shouting instructions at them. Darcy was being shoved with the end of a gun from behind, forced to get on her knees beside Steve. He was compliant, hands behind his head and simply stunned from the events that had just unfolded. She followed suit, dropping her weapon and placing her hands behind her head. Her leg throbbed, she could feel a massive lump on her head presumably from the car wreck and looked up to the sky to see a news helicopter overhead. She briefly heard something along the lines of “not here” from none other than Brock Rummy-something, the man she met ages ago. 

Sam, removed from his wingsuit, was handcuffed and being escorted by three armed guards to reunite with Steve, Nat and Darcy. The agents placed Natasha and Darcy in standard handcuffs like Sam’s, but placed Steve in massive constraints. They were then instructed to get up and walk, and silently the four of them were led to an armored truck and ordered to sit on the metal benches in the back. Steve and Darcy on one side, Natasha and Sam on another. Two armed agents in dark helmets entered after the group sat down and locked the door, sitting in silence simply watching the group of them sit across from each other. 

Once the truck started to move, Sam finally broke the silence with a question.

“Who _was_ that guy?”

“Bucky Barnes.” Darcy said. She and Steve were currently part of the ‘stare intently at your shoes’ club. Their elbows bumped with each dip in the road but neither one had made the move to look at each other, still dumbfounded. 

“Pardon?” Sam stated. “How is that even possible.” He knew who Bucky Barnes was – nearly every member of the US Military had heard of and idolized the Howling Commandos. They were an exemplary example of comradery and their noble behaviour during WWII was heavily focused on. 

“It was him.” Steve said with force. “He looked right at me, he didn’t even know me.”

“How is that even possible? It was like 70 years ago.” Sam said with disbelief. Darcy looked over to Steve for his reaction but his head was still facing down. He started to explain what had happened in WWII with Zola. If only Sam knew more about her, maybe he wouldn’t have questioned it. The tears were welling up in her eyes and she was breathing quite heavily through her nose trying to calm herself. 

She had given Bucky and Steve an even worse fate than the former's absolute death. She had singlehandedly created a rift in time that resulted in Bucky becoming a super soldier for Hydra, probably tortured into obedience and having his memories erased from him. The Bucky she had just encountered didn’t even glance her way and had no image of recognition when Steve had addressed him. He really didn’t know who they were and there was no denying he was the original Bucky. Why on earth would Hydra clone Bucky Barnes and not Steve Rogers if they had perfected cloning? 

Darcy could feel hot tears running down her cheeks. She was in so much pain, both physically and mentally. It felt as if she was on the edge of having a full on breakdown.

“They must have found him.” Steve said, interrupting Darcy’s self-wallowing and looking up to look out the small window across from them.

“None of that’s your fault Steve,” Natasha said with pain in her voice. 

“Even when I had nothing, I had Bucky.” Steve said solemnly. That was the tipping point for Darcy. She choked out a loud sob and released a vaguely inhuman wail, face scrunching up with the guilt she carried. She let out a few wracked sobs that shook her whole body, getting a major look of concern from Sam.

“I-it’s not your f-fault,” She tried to get the words out but crying was taking priority. “It’s mine, this is my fault. Everything is my fault.” She managed to steady her breathing but couldn’t meet Steve’s eyes, far too ashamed to let him see her face. One of the guards barked at her to shut it and stop crying, and she tried her best to stay calm before speaking again, though when she did it was so soft she didn’t think that Steve would even be able to hear. 

“I couldn’t save anyone and now he’s even worse off than before.” 

The truck went over a particularly nasty pothole and Natasha groaned, face rolling into a grimace. Her jacket was covered in blood and it was clear from the washed out look on her face that she had lost a lot of blood and wouldn’t be conscious for long. Sam took notice and spoke up on her behalf, telling the guards that she needed a doctor. He was a Good man, Darcy thought, but knew it was pointless to request medical help when the four of them were now on Hydra’s premium hit list. The same snarky guard who told Darcy to shut up had flashed his Taser rod at Sam, a short bolt of electricity running through it as a threat to the group. 

Suddenly the other guard took charge and knocked out the jerk. She may have been a pain in the ass when Darcy was living at the compound, but she was so damn glad to see Maria Hill. 

__________

After the group had taken care of the driver in the armored truck and hopped into another vehicle, Maria drove like a maniac before stopping in a remote area. They exited and Maria escorted them into a secret facility, shouting orders at some men to help Natasha with her blood loss. A man Darcy didn’t know was running up to them volunteering to take her but Maria said something about seeing someone first. A few more paces down the long dim hallway and they all entered a room that resembled a medical bay, curtains hanging from the ceiling to surround the bed and its occupant.

“About damn time.”

Nick Fury.

Immediately Natasha and Darcy were sat down and attended to. Natasha and Steve both stared intently at Nick, while Sam and Darcy both kept quiet as they weren’t quite positive what was going on. Natasha had told Darcy that Nick was dead when she was picked up at the airport but Darcy didn’t ask her to elaborate given the situation at hand. All Darcy knew was that Nick was dead. The how and why wasn’t as important as their safety at that moment only days ago.

Soon after, they all sat around a table and Nick began to speak. About his injuries, the fake death, and what he knew about the Hydra takeover of SHIELD. Darcy was only half paying attention to what was being said, having been in London for the first half of this shit parade. If she made it out of this mission alive, knowing full well Natasha wouldn’t have a problem doing so, she was going to ask the older woman for some proper training. She would never become a super mega spy but if she _did_ make it out she would at least become less of a liability.

She drifted back into the conversation, holding a bag of ice to her head to ease the pain. From what she understood, they were certainly going to try and take the Triskelion from Pierce, who had apparently been behind the operation. Steve was fired up and began to make orders like the Captain he was. He had a plan. Steve, Sam, and Maria would all head into the building and make Pierce’s treason public and infiltrate the Heli-carriers to stop the launch of Project Infinity. Natasha would be undercover as a Level 10 SHIELD in order to get close to Pierce. Nick would eventually join them.

Darcy, wounded and untrained (a very polite way of saying unskilled), would not be involved in direct combat with Hydra and was instructed by every person in the room to stay behind. Usually she would protest but she knew better. 

Soon after Steve had laid it all out for them he left the room. Darcy, hoping to catch Steve before the others left, limped behind him as he went up some stairs. When she finally made it up she heard a door close. Making it to the door, she struggled to open it, her weary body still weak. Steve had settled in the middle of the pedestrian overpass that was connected to the dam they were hiding in. He acknowledged her presence with a quick glance but stared ahead as she slowly made her way towards him. When she eventually made it to his side, she put her hands out to the barrier to lean, easing some weight off her hurt leg.

The two stood in silence, both looking out into nothing in particular. Darcy felt sick to her stomach. Steve had known she interfered with the past, but she couldn’t remember exactly what she told him, her memory hazy still with her head injury. Finally after a deep breath she only had one broken word to say to him.

“Sorry.” She started. “I’m so sorry.” She felt as if she was going to cry but she was all out of tears and simply too exhausted for sobbing. Steve swung to face her and grabbed her in a tight embrace, Darcy’s arms pinned to her sides while he pressed her to him. She weakly raised her arms up to put her hands on him wherever she could reach, and they stayed like that for what felt like forever.

“Don’t be sorry. This isn’t your fault.” He said to her, releasing the two from the hug. He put one hand on each of her shoulders. He may have spoken ‘isn’t your fault’ but she heard a silent _“It’s mine”_ at the end of it. She wasn’t going to argue with him about it at this point in time. Darcy knew that Steve was fueled by the idea that he ruined Bucky’s life and knew that he would fight his very best against Hydra to save him if he put the blame on himself. Once they all got out of this she would work on getting some one on one time. 

Their moment was interrupted by Sam opening the door and Darcy grabbed Steve’s hand, squeezed it and lingered for a half a second before saying “I’ll leave you to him” and turning towards the door, giving Sam a quick head nod and avoiding any questions he may have for her. She knew her minor breakdown in the truck was confusing for anyone not in the loop and she wasn’t ready to talk about it with him yet. She had already royally messed up his life by showing up at his house.  
Soon after, Steve and the others left the hideout and Darcy was left behind. 

Only half an hour after they left her the guilt and self-loathing won (and a couple of pain killers from the doctor started to work) and she stole the van Maria had abandoned when they arrived at the hideout. This was her damn mess and she wasn’t about to lay low and watch Steve make a series of bad decisions, not when she might be able to help. 

Having memorized the route that Steve and Maria had mapped out when they finalized the plan, Darcy soared down the highway. She knew that she could die or live and be seriously reprimanded, but damn it if she wasn’t just going to sit around and wait for something to happen. She helped defeat Hydra once before, why stop at one. 

But if she was going to be one hundred percent honest, a little part of her was going just to see Bucky in the flesh again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One more to go before this part wraps up! After the next chapter I'm just going to edit the some chapters in desperate need of attention and then start up again :)
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!


	14. Chapter 14

Darcy was positive she would hold this image in her mind forever. Foot on the gas, she neared the Triskelion and she could see the remainders of the floating Heli-Carriers. The smoke clogging the sky as the three ships fired onto one another. The explosions had scared most of the motorists and Darcy was thrilled to be able to soar down the highway with ease in the grubby Van. She may not have a plan or a clue where her team mates were (because that was what they were, she decided, they were a team now – independent from the Avengers) but she had the concern and care to make sure that everyone would come out fine. She had a lingering feeling judging from Steve’s reaction to Bucky that he would certainly make some questionable choices. How did she know? Because she would probably make some questionable choices as well if she was in same position.

As Darcy neared closer to the Triskelion she debated which exit to take. There was an exit right before the main exit that would allow her to take the lower levels and avoid possible confrontation against any enemy agents. But the main exit would spit her out right at the front and give her the likeliest chance of helping someone out. She looked up at the sky looking for guidance as she noticed that most of the explosions and shooting in the air had stopped. Two of the carriers had fallen into the water below and the third hovered but was heading towards the Triskelion. She grit her teeth, understanding that the Carrier would certainly collide with the building and she began to slow down as she judged the situation. 

She saw a large Helicopter, Fury’s helicopter she hoped, take off before the Carrier hit the side of the building. The impact with the building caused the giant airship to ricochet away from it, resulting in it heading towards the shore side that she was currently on. Judging from the way that the Helicopter hovered around before noticing they were chancing a collision and backing off, there was someone of importance on board worth saving. For Fury that meant Steve, and for Hydra Darcy assumed that meant Bucky. There hadn’t been much on the topic of Bucky from Fury, but even someone out of the loop would know that keeping a solider alive for 70 years meant he was pretty important. 

For Darcy both men were of importance to her and she made a snap decision to cut horizontally across the highway and screech towards the exit that took the back roads, but hugged the waterline facing the Triskelion. There was an excellent chance that Steve was still up there, probably fighting or hashing it out with whoever as his only mission inside the craft would have been to redirect the targets which had obviously been successful. If he was still up there, a hopeful worst case scenario would be Steve jumping into the water if needed, but the thought of that made Darcy nervous. Hopefully she would reach the shoreline before the craft hit the water and she would be able to spot anyone that had jumped and offer assistance at the ground level. She had no idea what she would do if it was her fallen lover she was heading towards instead of her friend. She had no chance to process how she was feeling regarding Bucky’s situation as a Hydra agent who had forgotten about his two dearest friends.

 _Brainwashed?_ Darcy thought. Like Steve said, whatever they had started with him at the facility was clearly completed. _Thanks to me._ She shook her head to clear the nasty thoughts. Blame wasn’t going to get her anywhere and if she wanted to start being a useful team member she needed to think more like Natasha and less like Steve, as bad as that sounded. 

Steve was a fueling force of American Pride 70 years ago but in this world he just managed to find himself the cause of all negative things that had happened since she found her way back to the 21st century. She wasn’t positive, but was mulling over the idea that perhaps his memory blast that happened when the two timelines came together for him had effected more than just his past experiences. His attitude had shifted, it was darker now that he understood the type of power certain things held. Things like the Tesseract, the Staff & the Ether. When Darcy told Steve about what happened to Jane between then and now he looked disturbed at the news. In less than a year Earth had been plagued with a series of massively powerful items, creatures and people and Steve seemed to believe that it was only going to get worse as time went on. Before Loki, before the Fall of Shield, there was a chance he could continue with his chipper attitude and optimistic outlook on life. But Darcy knew him better than that. Things had changed for both of them but for Steve most of all. 

Nearing the end of the road, Darcy turned right onto a back road that was parallel to the shore but still a fair distance away, blocked by a fence, thick brush and some trees. She parked on the road, all other vehicle activity nonexistent, and held her hands up to shield her eyes from the sun as she looked at the falling carrier for any sign of life. With some fantastic luck it only took a few seconds before she saw something promising. Darcy was grateful a spare set of glasses in her prescription was handed to her by Maria in the medic bay because the contacts would never have allowed her to zone in on the important piece of debris that caught her eye by fluke chance. She may have been hundreds of feet away and maybe – possibly, it could simply be a similarly rounded object but it reflected light the way she only knew one thing could. She stared as a perfect circle fell from the hovering Heli-Carrier. The Red and Blue striped side flipping around to give Darcy even more indication that it was most likely Cap’s shield. 

Where Steve’s shield was, Steve was. Now if she didn’t want to throw up from the thought of him still being up there, Darcy would pat herself on the back for her smart thinking of heading to the shoreline. At least she could greet the Man and they could both drive back to the cave, or wherever, who gives a shit. Just to be able to leave in one piece with one another would be good.

 _But where is he?_ She thought as she scanned through the gaps in the structure, squinting herself to a headache searching for movement. She found it, but not the way she was expecting. Among the falling debris of the crumbling Heli-Carrier, Darcy saw Steve. He wasn’t flailing or pointed into a dive, he was simply…falling. Back facing the water which was eager to swallow him whole. 

_”STEVE!,”_ She cried out, finding herself losing sight of him over the tree line behind the fence. She scaled the fence as fast as she could and hit the ground running. Her mind was blank as she broke through the brush, focused on getting to the water to track where Steve would have ended up. Branches whipped at her face, reminding her of the wounds she had forgotten about, unimportant compared to the mission at hand. It wasn’t until she slipped on slick earth and fell onto her right leg, still throbbing slightly from the road rash she incurred from the car accident that she slowed to a limp until she was at the shore. The devastation in front of her once she hit the water took her breath away. 

Where she guessed Steve had landed had since been covered by the wreck, debris scattered all around it and heading towards the shore. She couldn’t see him, or anyone, swimming at all. Her head whipped back and forth, limping the shoreline to get a few different views. The sun’s reflection in the water was making it hard to focus on anything. That, combined with the prospect of Steve not getting through this ordeal causing her eyes to well up.

She cried out his name a few more times before undoing her jacket and throwing it on the beach, bending down to undo her shoes to she could jump into the water, convincing herself that maybe Steve was hovering around or looking for his Shield that had fallen before him. As her hands hit the laces she scanned the shore to see the type of debris that had already washed up, and her blood went cold. 

About a hundred feet away Bucky was dragging Steve out of the water with his one arm, steps steady and determined. Steve was dropped as soon as his body was out of the water, Bucky standing over him. Darcy couldn’t see either of their faces, but there was an eerie calm around all of them, and she rose as quietly as she could, afraid of a wrong move. Though she did have a fair bit of good luck with traffic so of course she leaned a bit too hard on her left foot rising up and ended up slipping, watching her foot splash into the water and releasing a yelp of surprise as it did. 

She could feel the lump in her throat form instantly and whipped her head back up to Steve and Bucky, but there was only her blue clad friend _In his original uniform?_ she noted with confusion, and was looking through the trees for movement, unsure where Bucky may be hiding. Darcy heard Steve cough up water he ingested, followed by a moan of pain. Her safety be damned, Darcy hustled over to Steve. There was no sign of Bucky. She was on her knees as soon as she reached him, with her ear down to his mouth and her hands searching for a pulse. During her hyper-quick inspection she noticed a piece of thick paper folded in half in one of the folds of his suit, right over his heart. She pulled it out and took a glance and her heart dropped. It was the picture of the three of them, Bucky, Steve  & Darcy. She swallowed her heart back into her chest and pressed on, biting back the emotions that had hit her and putting the paper on the ground beside the two.

She rolled him over to his side in the fetal position facing away from her and began to just wipe the water off the side of his face with her sleeve. He was brutally beaten. Darcy was unused to seeing him this way. She had a minor flashback to pre-serum Steve when she first met him (when he first met her?) back in the alley. Blood was running from his nose and an eye was swollen shut. She stood up immediately when she finally noticed that he had a bullet wound on his back, blood actively pumping out of it. The sand beneath his body was marred with his blood. 

Her palms were hot and sweaty and she shook them in a vain effort to dry them off while she figured out how to get Steve to the hospital. She looked at him for an intense moment.

“Steve, I’m sorry but I’ll be right back, I’m jus-uuRK”—a hand had wrapped around her neck, and the owner of that hand uncurled their arm to have her meet her aggressor face to face. 

Bucky.

He was holding her off the ground with his metal arm at her neck and she clutched at his hand with both of hers, scrambling to find a space between his palm and fingers and her neck. She tried to speak, but forming words with a tight metal arm squeezing the air from her trachea made it rather difficult. She was already light headed as it was from the pain killers, her thrashing was starting to subside as well. _He’s going to kill me,_ she thought frantically, finally meeting his eyes with hers. _He’s going to kill me and he doesn’t even remember me_.

“B…B-..uck” She rasped out with a low whine, “Ssss-st-“

He remained unaffected, a frown still present on his brow. His lips were tight and he seemed almost robotic in the stillness he maintained regardless of Darcy’s swinging legs and frantic hands. Trying her hardest to stay focused, Darcy gave all she could in the next word, blue eyes welling with water staring into his dark ones. 

_”Please.”_

As hard as she tried, it didn’t come above a whisper but it must have done something to him because he let go. She fell to her knees and palmed the sand, hacking and wheezing air back into her lungs. The sudden rush of oxygen made her dizzy but she didn’t care. Still breathing heavily her left arm flew up to her neck as if to check the damage. It was sore and she knew for a fact she would have the nastiest choke shaped bruise for weeks afterwards. She tilted her head up to him, hand still clutching at her throat, unsure if she was upset or angry about what had just happened.

Turns out, it was the latter.

“What the _FUCK_ dude?” She barked, coughing after her outburst. She was fed up goddammit. She was trying her best to keep up with everything and everyone around her without breaking down. And of course right after she set a new resolve to try even harder to keep it together the Universe decided to take a heaping shit right in front of her parade in the form of Psycho Bucky. 

Psycho Bucky who was currently she might add, staring at her with a mixture of confusion and anger. He stared her down as she stood up, rubbing her neck. He was tense, signaling to Darcy that any wrong move on her part would result in an immediate take down. She let go of her neck to lift both hands up, arms bent at the elbow, in a sign of submission. Any idiot would be able to tell that a limping, wet footed, out of breath, unarmed woman would probably not be a threat to a super-soldier, but Bucky didn’t change. 

They stood in silence for a fraction of a moment before he darted for the tree line.

“Wait!” She called out, surprised at herself. She turned around and noticed he had stopped right before blending into the greenery. She bent down and picked up the photo, still folded. 

“Take this. Please.” Her voice was still hoarse, each word was like swallowing sandpaper. She held it out in her outstretched arm. “Please.” She emphasized the word as best as she could with her vocal restrictions. By some miracle he stomped over to her and ripped the picture out of her hands before turning back around and running into the trees, leaving Steve and Darcy behind. She took a series of deep breaths before the hum of a helicopter flew right above them, hovering. Panic set it before she looked at the occupants poking out of the open door of the Heli.

 _OH thank fucking god_ She thought once she met Natasha’s eyes. The woman didn't look surprised to see her. They were safe, Steve was safe. Other than the overall mystery of Super Soldier Bucky, everything was looking great.

\-------

Once Steve recovered, he approached her after the quiet burial ceremony they had for the ‘not quite dead but now had an amazing cover story’ Colonel Fury. Apparently Nat had called in a few favours from Kiev and they had come through in the form of a thick dossier in Russian. As soon as she saw the image of Bucky on the innermost flap of the folder, Darcy knew she and Steve had just fallen into something huge. Locking eyes with Steve, the two of them knew that they were in this together and nothing would stop them. 

Cause they were with him ‘till the end of the line.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I went back and forth about how Bucky & Darcy would reunite and I had to admit that during the final moment between Steve and Buck (AKA Bucky having a mental breakdown) a hostage/partner in crime situation would not have happened. He's a mess. Darcy wouldn't have left Steve behind anyway.
> 
> He's got to sort himself out for a moment. But expect big things in the third installment. BAMF Darcy Lewis is going to make a massive comeback.
> 
> Thank you so much for your support, I'm so glad people like to read my insane brain child.


	15. Chapter 15

_Born in 1916, Barnes grew up the oldest child of four. An excellent athlete who also excelled in the classroom, Barnes enlisted in the Army shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor. After winter training at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, Barnes and the rest of the 107th shipped out to the Italian front. Captured by Hydra troops later that fall, Barnes endured long periods of isolation, depravation and torture. But his will was strong. In an ironic twist of fate, his prison camp was liberated by none other than his childhood friend, Steve Rogers, now Captain America.  
Reunited, Barnes and Rogers led Captain America’s newly formed unit, The Howling Commandos. Barnes’ marksmanship was invaluable as Roger’s and his team destroyed Hydra bases and disrupted Nazi troop movements throughout the European Theatre.   
Bucky Barnes. 1917-1944. _

He clutched the photo in his right hand, the image of the man in front of him the same as the one in his possession. Both of these men were him – but not. He reread the words on the back of the picture once again, searching for answers. 

_Me, Buck & Rose - Italy 1943_

He examined the picture, same as he had done countless times already. The people in it were the three at the beach days ago, when the headache began. Every time he stared at the photograph he was hit with a flashback, at least he thought it was a flashback, of kissing the woman in the picture on the cheek right afterwards, her laughter from long ago echoing in his brain. It rattled him. His left hand made a tight fist as he remembered choking the same woman to near death.

How much of himself had he forgotten? 

Could he ever be the man smiling in the photograph again? This was his third visit to the Smithsonian looking for answers and the only thing he noticed was that the woman from the beach was just as much of a mystery as he was. He might not have much luck finding out who he was, but that wasn’t his specialty. Besides assassination, his specialty was tracking down others and learning about them.

He would start with her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> BOOM DONE
> 
> I wrapped it up at 15 because the next series will have a heavy focus on the year gap between Avengers 2 and Civil war.
> 
> Hint hint.
> 
> Thanks for sticking around to finish the second part, thank you again for reading and commenting :)


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